For sure I see more potential with Arteta. Dont forget this is his very first managerial job - he will make mistakes and learn as he goes. Is he ready for a big job like this? .. I'm not sure. I do however think he will get better over time as he learns. The other thing is you cant say we lost this game or dropped points at Leceister because of tactical issues. All goals were down to individual mistakes. Tactically you would have to say he did well in those games - we were the better team in both.
the tactics we have seem sound, and most of the players are on board. The defence has been better but all 3 CBs are error prone. We need to replace them with CBS who aren’t so error prone. for example Stones is a great ball playing CB but is error prone - so City paid £50m and thought they could coach it out of him, they couldn’t so he doesn’t get picked.
Totally agree. We keep moaning about our defence but if we are only scoring one goal in a game and relying on that then we will always be in a precarious position. We should have beat Leicester and Spurs but we are missing vital chances.
Sloppy errors cost us again. Defensively we just switch off and make the same mistakes again and again. It comes down to personnel for me, Mustafi simply isn't good enough, Luiz is error prone and Kolasinac, whilst a decent back up wing back simply isn't a CB. Hoping that Saliba and Mari (when fit) can form a good partnership at the back and make us more solid in there. We should have won that game yesterday, Spurs offered next to nothing by way of a threat, we just allowed them back into the game and then switched off on a set piece. Our record on that is as bad as Villa and Norwich.
So next season Defence: Back 3 CBs Saliba Mari Holding (unless we buy another CB) with Bellerin/Soares and Tierney/Saka as WBs or FBs if we play with a back 4. Midfield: we have to make Ceballos permanent sort out Guendouzi head/attitude sort out Torreira attitude keep Zhaka as backup ? buy Partey Attack: try and keep Auba keep laca nectie martenelli pepe saka Squad: keep all the youngsters Sell: luiz mustafi ozil kolasinac selling these 4 players would free up the best part of £600k a week so should we spend it on your thoughts
Yeah true, saying that though - I would take Stones over ANY of our current CB's.(except Saliba) He has shown he can be conistent at the top level. Yeah - Mustafi is mentally weak he has good footballing ability but always breaks under real pressure. David Luiz is just a liability. Sokratis is just decent - not top level, not terrible. Kolasinac is also error prone. Holding is a decent defender but I dont think he is good enough 'playing the ball out' in the way Arteta wants. Tierney has been a great addition - looks excellent. Mari looks like our best all round. Typically he gets injured as soon as he starts making an impact. Will have to wait and see about Saliba - he has top quality potential for sure.
Tierney has been a bright spark in an otherwise dull season. We look so much better with him and Bellerin on the flanks. It's through the middle at the back we struggle. All of those players you mention. Mustafi, Luiz, Sokratis, Kolasinac, Holding all have weaknesses that cost us time and again. We'll have to see how Mari and Saliba shape up together I guess.
They had more possession and did nothing with it There goal was an error from our defender and a wonder goal we had more shots, more on target what did you see that suggests they were actually better than us?
Maybe the chances they ****ed up by being static in your box whilst their fullbacks/wingers were out wide with two defenders on them (no one drawing a defender away or making an angle for a pass, just waiting for the ball). They looked the more composed team but too lazy to make it real.
Did you see the chances we messed up? once we went 2-1 up we were slicing through them at will but Kane and Son decided to see who could out **** each other instead. That one was comfortable
Nice! Feels good to get some good luck - felt like we were due after both Spurs and Leceister results.
When you look at it back that Trent Alexander Arnold tackle on Saka from yesterdays game it was very bit as bad as Nketiahs that earned him a three match ban. Its hard not to think there's an anti Arsenal bias with **** like this.
defo the same, no intent in either challenge and both should have been yellows only. LiVARpool mate don’t ya know
A good win yesterday against a team that we haven't beaten for 5 years. I guess we know for sure that Simeone-style football is Liverpool's kryptonite . When Mane scored, I was expecting the worst. But we hung in there, capitalised on their mistakes, and defended resolutely for the entire second half. Tierney pocketed Salah and Firmino was rendered ineffective. Luiz and Holding were superb at the back. Xhaka was disciplined and used possession intelligently in midfield. Torreira made some crucial interceptions and tackles, too. I have to give a special mention to the scorers Nelson and Lacazette. Lacazette hasn't had a great season. Nothing was coming off for him to the point where a striker who couldn't even get into the Leeds team earlier this season was ahead of him in the pecking order. Since Nketiah's suspension, Lacazette's had 2 goals and 1 assist - in big games too. Fair play to him for stepping up. Nelson I thought was having a horrid game up until he pressured VvD into the mistake - and he took his goal superbly. Clinical finish. Let's hope he can kick on now, in what has been a stop-start season for him. For all of Liverpool's possession, we were fairly comfortable in defending for the most part. I don't think Arteta likes us exerting such little control on a game, but he's aware that Liverpool's quality exceeds ours, so we had to approach the game differently versus superior opposition. It's frustrating that we can defend so well like we did yesterday, but are also equally capable of cock-ups like the Spurs game... One thing I want to note - we've scored a lot of goals recently from goalkeeping errors or defenders making mistakes in their own penalty area. The reason why we've scored goals stemming from these errors is because our forwards are pressing high, closing down spaces and are aiming to recycle possession further up the pitch. Those goals have resulting from our approach. So we deserve credit for that.