Again, it’s been awhile now but we were finishing 8th back to back and facing a big club was a guaranteed drubbing.
I think I rated that season a 6/10 but the romanticism of 22/23 is easy to understand.
Most exciting season under Arteta for sure. That and the europa run under unai the don are the two most exciting seasons in recent memory.
23/24 as close as we came in the end somehow doesn’t stick the same way. Was a great season results and points wise.
Not gonna lie, for me the last FA Cup win and the CL run last season shit on our EL run under Emery.
#NeverForgetBaku
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That performance in the final ruined the whole thing for me.
Felt like we didn’t belong.
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The journey to get there was great, final was an utter waste of time but that run through Naples, Valencia etc was class.
Also still a great weekend in Baku even if the weds night felt shit.
Saw it being spoken about it here but cant remember where.
The inverting full back is hurting us. Having MLS step into a midfield pivot of Rice + zubi/Norgaard is just overkill. Its so predictable and defendable for any deep / mid block. Like okay we have an extra person in midfield but all their players are behind the ball so it dosnt matter and if you move it out wide theres nobody out there to create a 2v1.
We’re in a position then where we cant progress through the middle or out wide so we have 60mins of horse shoe passing.
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I’m so tired of the inverted bollocks
Been a case of diminishing returns and yeah it doesn’t aid the attack enough to justify it as a default
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It looked like Arteta’s preference when selecting Calafiori was to have a roaming, attacking/defensive LB that provided a tonne more fluidity on that side. Cala may never be totally fit but you can see the vision for switching it up there.
I think MLS’s breakout just ‘happened’ and it’s an acceptable bonus on Arteta’s behalf because he’s a player that does the core things he’s looking for with more defensive nous than a Zinchenko.
Ideally, he probably wants two different LB’s to play in different game states but it’s a shame the Calafiori has suffered the injuries he has. Our left-side would look so much better if he had the robustness.
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It’s gonna be a tough watch this season. We’re gonna be watching the exact same strengths and the exact same weaknesses for the third season in a row. And it’s not a pretty watch for the most part.
Looks like Arteta is relying 100% on just like for like squad improvements. But where is the tactical evolution?. Guardiola never stood still.
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What is this about the bashing/over romanticizing of the 22/23 season? The whole backstory of that was that Arsenal had the second youngest squad of the Premier League at the time and what it could mean for the future.
Furthermore after 29 games we had a 8 point gap with City (albeit them having a game in hand at the time). With very entertaining football to go with it. There is nothing wrong with saying that what was a good season, could have been a great season if somethings worked our for us differently (Saliba’s injury).
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https://x.com/gunnerblog/status/1951599293665624122?t=e7WjwdpKzz4YT16kJscRrg&s=19
A change in style with Hard Gyökeres leading the line it seems.
This Heinze fella of ours, is this the same brute that played for Man Utd all those years ago??
Indeed.
City look like they’re going back to full backs who can overlap, Liverpool have bought two very attacking full backs. Mikel still has a hard on about inverting full backs. Zzzz
Nothing wrong with any of that at all.
What’s wrong is the idea that we were better that year than in 23/24 or that we just need to go back to playing that way.
Inverting the full back from the left has only really worked offensively when Arsenal had Zinchenko in the team as he wasn’t risk averse with his passing. Since his drop-off, only Calafiori has shown that same level of initiative in his game. But he has similar issues in 1v1 situations.
The tactical framework on the left side just needs a rethink. Preferably catering to the characteristics of the players. Rice playing deeper which allows him to run with the ball centrally.
Martinelli/Trossard positioned closer to the striker and providing more of a box threat. A full back who provides width and is a wing threat.
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100% man
I really want to see more conventional FB play with overlap and underlap etc
Need to be more creative and expansive especially to break down these low blocks and defensively resolute sides that have become an issue over the last few years
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both 22/23 and 23/24 are tales of two halves, and people tend to remember the one that’s more favourable to suit their personal narrative.
23/24 is only ‘better’ because of the form from January through to May; but we weren’t good enough from August to December that season.. the team made it nonsensically difficult for themselves, no team should have to practically win every game to win the league; the team made a rod for their own back with the poor results (in comparison) for the first half of the season.
22/23 was amazing from August to March; and fell out near the end. Saliba cracked his back, Jesus was injured; and there were some poor results but mainly towards the tailend of the campaign.
24/25 was just disappointing all round really. The performances against City and UCL progress were the main positives, plus the emergence of our kids in Nwnaeri and MLS. But the entire forward line was crap.
25/26 remains to be seen, but looking at our squad and the way we’re playing, we’re likely gonna end up 3rd but hopefully not too far off the top 2 teams.