Work so hard to earn a set piece. Then gift away a foul and soak up more time.
Up the Arse! Goons Thread
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Get the sense there’ll be a chance here. Just a matter of who it falls to.
Should’ve taken the free kick from that position surely. And then a poor corner to end the match, damn.
Embarrassing finish to the game. Really poor decision making from Saka.
beside the seaside
Club Legend
- Jun 7, 2023
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When you don't have a go to striker in a game of this magnitude you are on the back foot. If we want to compete at the deep end of these tournaments we need a world class striker.
Not belted. On to wolves.
Another season that promised so much only for us to sh1t the bed when it really matters. Arteta is too limited as a manager to take us all the way, unfortunately.
Third consecutive season that the players look gassed in April. Not a great pattern that continues to repeat itself.
That 15 minute period out of nowhere in the first leg where Arsenal overcommitted and tried to blow the tie away, and gifting two goals a result, that’s the difference here. Otherwise it was a fairly even tie. The gulf in experience was telling though.
The last 15 minutes here encapsulated that. There was a glaring need to get progressive passes through the midfield. Zinchenko and Partey on the bench yet Mikel just didn’t act. Once again allows the match to drift away.
And that final 30 seconds, just wtf. Take the free kick from that spot. Or if it becomes a corner opportunity, at least beat the first man. That was poor by Saka, who I feel should’ve been off instead of Martinelli however we know Arteta doesn’t do that.
That 15 minute period out of nowhere in the first leg where Arsenal overcommitted and tried to blow the tie away, and gifting two goals a result, that’s the difference here. Otherwise it was a fairly even tie. The gulf in experience was telling though.
The last 15 minutes here encapsulated that. There was a glaring need to get progressive passes through the midfield. Zinchenko and Partey on the bench yet Mikel just didn’t act. Once again allows the match to drift away.
And that final 30 seconds, just wtf. Take the free kick from that spot. Or if it becomes a corner opportunity, at least beat the first man. That was poor by Saka, who I feel should’ve been off instead of Martinelli however we know Arteta doesn’t do that.
One small silver lining is Team 115 are out.
Reckon it would have been better if they had more matches to navigate tbh.
Yes I think from a Liverpool/Arsenal perspective, you’d want City to remain in the competition and have a CL semi final to manage along with their league matches.
I don’t have the optimism we will win enough games from here on in for it to matter.
Proud of the team coming this far, but we have really shat the bed in important moments.
Hopefully the team can learn from it and grow.
Hopefully the team can learn from it and grow.
If the squad can swing by Dubai en route home from Munich, that’d be lovely.
The season is starting to look cooked, have to win out and hope city slip up, didn’t hold out much hope for CL as looked inexperienced
Probably goes against us that city are out now too as less games to navigate for them
Probably goes against us that city are out now too as less games to navigate for them
- Aug 31, 2008
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Garbage.
How to bottle an entire season in 7 days.
This is all my fault - I knew I shouldn't have allowed myself to enjoy watching the United fan cams post the Chavs game.
How to bottle an entire season in 7 days.
This is all my fault - I knew I shouldn't have allowed myself to enjoy watching the United fan cams post the Chavs game.
- Aug 31, 2008
- 23,751
- 47,951
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I hope we push City to the end, but you just know we will capitulate and end up several points behind them.
Airport is flooded.
Squad looks tired. Arteta only really trusting about 14 players this season has really drained us. Work still to do in the off-season to fill out the squad.
6 games to go.
6 games to go.
It’s a recurring theme. For all the investment and heavily curated squad that Arteta has assembled, it seems we get to this point of the year and it’s whittled down to 13-14 players.
Since that last international break, when Rice played 180 minutes for England, he just hasn’t looked the same.
This. It seems like anyone outside of Arteta’s trusted inner circle is not even in the building. Team 115 can rotate players through every position. Only Trossard, Tomi, Kivior and Jesus are considered for the first team right now, which means Rice, Odegaard, Saka, White and the centres back are run into the ground. We add to the squad every year, but never really strengthen it.
The stop start nature of players like Partey, Jesus, Tomiyasu, Zinchenko etc certainly don’t help this. Timber was an unfortunate injury that cannot be catered for. The others though really need to be expected to miss significant points of the season when squad planning.
From Timber’s integration into the team last pre season, he definitely seemed to be a first team regular. I’d imagine he would’ve played plenty of minutes on either fullback side, and perhaps could’ve covered for Saliba at moments. And perhaps allowed Kiwior some minutes in his natural centre half position for Gabriel.
The midfield though, I’m scratching my head on this one. The game this morning, similar to Villa on the weekend, it just drifted away in the second half. Partey would’ve been ideal. Or Zinchenko. It was glaring, yet he didn’t react.
Not for the first time I also feel Arteta’s blind spot for Saka prevents him for making the correct decisions. Saka is being run into the ground and his influence on the match was negligible. He shouldn’t have played the 90. Similar is now happening to Rice and Odeegard. Sure it’s not that simple to idly alternate your best key players.
However this underlines there’s still plenty of work to do in that squad to elevate the level, and mitigate the drop off when making these changes. Odegaard for Vieira, Saka for Nelson, these just aren’t viable enough options and clearly Arteta doesn’t trust a number of players he has available.
