Just watching Arteta’s interview and he seems happy with a narrow defeat here and seems to see it as a massive improvement.
Are we really going to take these types of L’s in all our big games this year ffs
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Like last season and a couple before no goals come or likely from midfield. Needs sòrting or its a long long season ahead.
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I applaud you for bothering to watch him try and explain that gutter performance
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So that’s the promised exciting mystery of the unknown that surrounded Mi Arteta. Well worth the wait.
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Today was the most infuriating he has been in terms of game approach, because there was no need to be as conservative with the players we had on the pitch, Partey not included.
Mikel has done alot of good since he came into the club but unfortunately because he is so new to management, maybe that’s why he can come across a little scared or worried to be too adventurous in case it fails?
From a defensive perspective he has improved us tenfold. He has also spent less than a year in active management, so parts of this pragmatism he may iron out, or look back at some of these games in the future with regret as he ultimately wants to have a more attacking style.
I expect the squad quality to keep moving forward but even last season we could have blistering half’s of football, then be sluggish in the other half. This time we have whole games with small drips of quality, and it’s hard to watch but I’m keeping the faith long term in what Mikel wants to do once he realises he can be braver.
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The only credit I’ll give him for today’s game is it wasn’t like recent visits to the Etihad where city just toyed with us and looked like they could score whenever they wanted.
The question is how much of that is due to the decline of city ?
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They aren’t that great this year so far for sure… a decent game against Wolves and then lost to LC and drew Leeds, putting up the same xG against them as us.
Arteta has focused his tactics and his training on improving us everywhere except the final third. We saw this against Sheffield United and really the same thing today, except against a much more difficult opponent. We were organized in defense, overall pretty good in defensive transitions, very good playing out from the back (until the ball reached the front line). And then we looked like we didn’t have a clue once we got to the final third. Its like he has analyzed the game and come up with plan for how to win or compete everywhere on the pitch except that whole scoring (or even threatening) goals part.
I am still willing to trust Arteta to have longer term plan that involves transitioning to a setup that puts players more into their natural attacking spaces and roles. Play three in midfield, play Auba central, let Tierney off the leash a bit to attack more down the left and combine with Saka. It doesn’t seem like rocket science.
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A lot of it, Leciester had no issues putting this shit version of City to the sword. And I refuse to believe we have less talent than Leciester fucking City.
Same concept as us getting battered by lolpool. Everyone told me that was a valiant loss. Bruh everyone is shitting on lolpool this year it was another trash result…
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We don’t play our best players and we don’t play them in their best positions either.
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We have conspired to make our attacking talent less than the sum of its parts because of Xhaka and playing a lopsided front three.
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Yeah that’s what is really getting on my nerves. Partey for eg is healthy and quality I don’t give a fuck about lack of training sessions, it’s not like putting him in is unsettling a strong midfield.
Willian as a false 9 what’s that about ?
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I have always had my doubts about Mikel, however I am the first to admit, that he has done a fantastic job since he has been in charge. He seems to have sorted out our defensive issues, we now look much more accomplished at the back, and as a fan, I am not getting the massive heart palpitations that I used to get, when opposition forwards were running at us…So credit to Mikel for that…
However, our attacking options, seem to be extremely cautious, which is very surprising considering the attacking talent that we have at our disposal…Auba, Laca, Pepe, Willian and you can also add in Saka, Ceballos, Nketiah and even Ozil into that group and we have an attack that on its day, can be truly devastating…
However my main concern is that Mikel seems more than happy to allow opposition teams to completely dominate us, and even when we do have the ball, we seem scared to try and take these teams on…That is SO SO frustrating, as I honestly believe that we are more than capable of taking these teams on head to head, and coming out on top…
Mikel has done very well, but he has to step up now, and show us that HE IS the man for the job…
I will give him until Christmas to show us that he is willing to try and let us attack the opposition and try to dominate games, if we are still playing for draws, then, in my opinion, he has to go…
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His basic attitude and aproach in terms of adjusting himself to opposition, being reactive etc… Lacking courage to impose himself on the pitch, to attack with many bodies… is much closer to David Moyes, the guy who probably had the biggest infuence on his career, than to a guy like Guardiola who always wants to dominate everyone even when he’s getting punished for that every once in a while.
Pep mk 2 my ass.
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Just until Christmas! I thought I was being harsh! :laca2:
Another massive problem for us is culture, we need to start winning some away games, think it was mentioned we have 20 points from our last 21 away league games, once that gets installed as part of the clubs fabric it’s hard to remove.
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I would give him the season, but our attacking options are so good, that by failing to utilise our best department, then I feel that he is not showing, that he is the right man for the job…So, Christmas it is…
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We need some Heat culture up in here.
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