Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

[swipe right]

When the team is poor he’s usually poor, literally Ozil part 2.

I think it would help him having the captaincy taken away.
I don't think anyone in the team has the guts or feels empowered to tell him to get his ass in gear on the pitch when he's playing poorly or to just give him instruction.

When things are not going well, players are looking to him and getting absolutely nothing back.

He should just be worried about goals - not being captain.
As it stands he's on course for another 10 goal season, which is depressing.

Predictable. Blame Auba for Arteta’s failures.

[Salibatelli]

We’ve scored 5 goals in 7 games this season, he isn’t the only issue, plus last season we struggled for goals as well.

I’d suggest the system isn’t working when we have the players we have and we struggle for goals.

The manager is very defensive we saw it yesterday and this will and does affect the attack. Sure we have the odd game where we score a few when we play a very open side, but most of the time creating and scoring goals is hard going.

[ag6789]

It is not being defensive, as yesterday's team was the same as that beat the Spuds. That day they played quality attacking football.
Problem is inconsistency , especially in the midfield. Partey and Odegaard play very well against Burnley and Tots but failed miserably yesterday. If they fail, the forwards don't have any service, simple as that.

[Ach]

Could be worse. He could be Harry Kane

[swipe right]

It amazes me that no one has made the connection between Andre Villas Boas’s time at Chelsea and Arteta’s time at Arsenal. It is identical in execution and outcome except AVB got fired the moment Roman realized his mistake.

[Salibatelli]

It is not being defensive, as yesterday's team was the same as that beat the Spuds. That day they played quality attacking football.
Problem is inconsistency , especially in the midfield. Partey and Odegaard play very well against Burnley and Tots but failed miserably yesterday. If they fail, the forwards don't have any service, simple as that.

It is but also it only works if teams give us space, when they don’t we’re toothless.

[jayramfootball]

There was no defensive set-up yesterday.
It was really quite simple - our midfield and forwards were not able to retain possession so the ball kept coming back.
It had nothing to do with tactics, it was simply that players were completely unable to control the ball and protect it to keep possession.
Auba, Odegaard and Partey were the biggest culprits.

The idea that Auba (and others) not being able to control a pass and have it bounce off his shin or foot 5 yards away from him causing him to lose possession is somehow the fault of the tactics is bizarre. Really bizarre.

[theHotHead]

It is not being defensive, as yesterday's team was the same as that beat the Spuds. That day they played quality attacking football.
Problem is inconsistency , especially in the midfield. Partey and Odegaard play very well against Burnley and Tots but failed miserably yesterday. If they fail, the forwards don't have any service, simple as that.

It is but also it only works if teams give us space, when they don’t we’re toothless.

So this takes us back to the Spurs game, were we so good because they let us play and were so poor? Or did we stop them from exerting their will on us?! Did Brighton do what Spurs were unable to do and pressure us? I still haven't seen the game or highlights, did we play the same tactics (not talking formation)? I bet we didn't, but it was slow slow slow again.

[jayramfootball]

It is not being defensive, as yesterday's team was the same as that beat the Spuds. That day they played quality attacking football.
Problem is inconsistency , especially in the midfield. Partey and Odegaard play very well against Burnley and Tots but failed miserably yesterday. If they fail, the forwards don't have any service, simple as that.

It is but also it only works if teams give us space, when they don’t we’re toothless.

So this takes us back to the Spurs game, were we so good because they let us play and were so poor? Or did we stop them from exerting their will on us?! Did Brighton do what Spurs were unable to do and pressure us? I still haven't seen the game or highlights, did we play the same tactics (not talking formation)? I bet we didn't, but it was slow slow slow again.

We tried to play exactly the same way, but we made some sloppy mistakes early - poor passing, poor control giving away possession. Momentum in a game is important. Against Spurs we grabbed it, against Brighton we did not. We started very well and could have scored but then the mistakes came and we gave up control. If Saka puts his chance away after his brilliant run early, we'd likely have seen a completely different game. That's football. Happens week in week out, year in year out.

We've played exactly the same way for the past 4 games, the only difference being the execution and decision making of the players on the day.

As it stands we have some fans who have a fantasy recollection of us steamrollering every smaller club we came into contact with and brushing them aside. That, unfortunately, has never been the case even in our best days - and it has never been the case at any time for any club in the Premier League. Apparently now an away draw is not a good result and even a win is no good unless we thrash our PL opponents.

[ag6789]

As I have mentioned before, we will do better against teams that attack, and will find it difficult against high press and massed defence.
Against high press teams we need to play two forwards, both Laca( for ball holding and engaging the opposition CBs) and Auba( attacking from the wings and pouncing on any left overs from Laca's battles); but it becomes easier if Partey /Sambi plays their role as ball winning midfielders to the hilt.. Since Partey hasn't proven to be the lynchpin we expected, has compounded the problem for Arteta. This is a vital cog missing for us for a long time , since the invincible days. Song did a moderate to decent job for while, Diaby ....never materialised , Xhakha was a misadventure and now even Partey isn't what he was expected to be.
So we keep trying different combinations or formations to bypass this problem and need to adjust to different teams as per their strengths, which is always going to be a tough task.
Wenger did try a novel concept of out passing the opponent w/Cazorla Ozil and Sanchez( constant hustling) with some success but in the end the effects of a Viera/Gilberto cannot be surpassed. We need some brawn besides the brain to win majority of games in this league.

[Salibatelli]

It is not being defensive, as yesterday's team was the same as that beat the Spuds. That day they played quality attacking football.
Problem is inconsistency , especially in the midfield. Partey and Odegaard play very well against Burnley and Tots but failed miserably yesterday. If they fail, the forwards don't have any service, simple as that.

It is but also it only works if teams give us space, when they don’t we’re toothless.

So this takes us back to the Spurs game, were we so good because they let us play and were so poor? Or did we stop them from exerting their will on us?! Did Brighton do what Spurs were unable to do and pressure us? I still haven't seen the game or highlights, did we play the same tactics (not talking formation)? I bet we didn't, but it was slow slow slow again.

We tried to play exactly the same way, but we made some sloppy mistakes early - poor passing, poor control giving away possession. Momentum in a game is important. Against Spurs we grabbed it, against Brighton we did not. We started very well and could have scored but then the mistakes came and we gave up control. If Saka puts his chance away after his brilliant run early, we'd likely have seen a completely different game. That's football. Happens week in week out, year in year out.

We've played exactly the same way for the past 4 games, the only difference being the execution and decision making of the players on the day.

As it stands we have some fans who have a fantasy recollection of us steamrollering every smaller club we came into contact with and brushing them aside. That, unfortunately, has never been the case even in our best days - and it has never been the case at any time for any club in the Premier League. Apparently now an away draw is not a good result and even a win is no good unless we thrash our PL opponents.

No, Brighton didn’t leave the same holes in midfield so we had no easy balls (you said so yourself Spurs left big gaps for us to play into).

So what are you saying we can only play well once every 10 games, because that seems to be the case.

I remember the games back in our successful days and we were all over teams and went good runs of wins when we players very well.

Nowadays we play well once in a blue moon and it’s been the case since Arteta arrived.

[jayramfootball]

It is not being defensive, as yesterday's team was the same as that beat the Spuds. That day they played quality attacking football.
Problem is inconsistency , especially in the midfield. Partey and Odegaard play very well against Burnley and Tots but failed miserably yesterday. If they fail, the forwards don't have any service, simple as that.

It is but also it only works if teams give us space, when they don’t we’re toothless.

So this takes us back to the Spurs game, were we so good because they let us play and were so poor? Or did we stop them from exerting their will on us?! Did Brighton do what Spurs were unable to do and pressure us? I still haven't seen the game or highlights, did we play the same tactics (not talking formation)? I bet we didn't, but it was slow slow slow again.

We tried to play exactly the same way, but we made some sloppy mistakes early - poor passing, poor control giving away possession. Momentum in a game is important. Against Spurs we grabbed it, against Brighton we did not. We started very well and could have scored but then the mistakes came and we gave up control. If Saka puts his chance away after his brilliant run early, we'd likely have seen a completely different game. That's football. Happens week in week out, year in year out.

We've played exactly the same way for the past 4 games, the only difference being the execution and decision making of the players on the day.

As it stands we have some fans who have a fantasy recollection of us steamrollering every smaller club we came into contact with and brushing them aside. That, unfortunately, has never been the case even in our best days - and it has never been the case at any time for any club in the Premier League. Apparently now an away draw is not a good result and even a win is no good unless we thrash our PL opponents.

No, Brighton didn’t leave the same holes in midfield so we had no easy balls (you said so yourself Spurs left big gaps for us to play into).

So what are you saying we can only play well once every 10 games, because that seems to be the case.

I remember the games back in our successful days and we were all over teams and went good runs of wins when we players very well.

Nowadays we play well once in a blue moon and it’s been the case since Arteta arrived.

We've played the same, but our opponents have had varying levels of success at nullifying us - not difficult to understand.
We're not going to roll over teams every week.
As for this team - we've played well often over the last 10 months. It's why we've picked up a good points haul over that period.

[Salibatelli]

I think you can count the decent performances over the last year and a half on one hand to be honest. Yes we’ve got results here and there but there’s and there but there’s so many games that are hard work for us in that time.

[jayramfootball]

I think you can count the decent performances over the last year and a half on one hand to be honest. Yes we’ve got results here and there but there’s and there but there’s so many games that are hard work for us in that time.

This is where I struggle to understand what you actually think is the norm. Seems totally at odds with reality.
Almost all games are hard work.
Even the Spurs game was hard work.
There were times in that game too where it could have gone against us.
Very very few games in this league are easy.

If you expect us to go out and play like we had Vieira, Bergkamp, Pires, Petit, Henry etc on the pitch at their best every week, it's no wonder how disappointed you always are. Even when we had those players we struggled in a lot of away games - even against the smaller teams.

You just have a 'highlight' view of football it seems and are expecting to see world-class play for 90 minutes each week.

[Salibatelli]

I think you can count the decent performances over the last year and a half on one hand to be honest. Yes we’ve got results here and there but there’s and there but there’s so many games that are hard work for us in that time.

This is where I struggle to understand what you actually think is the norm. Seems totally at odds with reality.
Almost all games are hard work.
Even the Spurs game was hard work.
There were times in that game too where it could have gone against us.
Very very few games in this league are easy.

If you expect us to go out and play like we had Vieira, Bergkamp, Pires, Petit, Henry etc on the pitch at their best every week, it's no wonder how disappointed you always are. Even when we had those players we struggled in a lot of away games - even against the smaller teams.

You just have a 'highlight' view of football it seems and are expecting to see world-class play for 90 minutes each week.

Again that’s not correct, Spurs wasn’t hard work, we were fluent and made light work of it, yes the 2nd half was harder but as a match we never looked like doing anything but winning.

What I mean by hard work is games where we struggle to create and score and maybe get one goal and don’t look fluent.

There’s been a lot of those games where we just look unconvincing despite winning.