Correct. Xhaka at left back messes up the defense, midfield (which needs xhaka next to Partey) and attack on one incomprehensible fell swoop. Not simply slotting Martinelli in is not quite as dumb but a head-scratcher nonetheless. Absolutely baffling all round.

I'm fairly optimistic about second leg because surely Arteta will be forced to pick a proper team that attacks from the off, and we are decent coming from behind. However I do worry now about Arteta doing more weird stuff like putting Aubameyang on the wing.

Even if it was rubbish youd still want the manager to put the various pieces in the right bins!

I think Arteta is so strict and has such high expectations that a player should follow his exact instructions in every move on the pitch that he just picks those who do that and leaves out those who don’t....seemingly irrespective of the talent or threat of the player. It’s the only reason I can’t think of for him leaving out Martinelli so often.

I agree with that. He's used up one of his nine lives here. Villareal will be the ones kicking themselves for failing to administer the coup de grâce.

I'm almost pleased Aubameyang didn't equalise. The last thing we would have needed on Thursday is the idea that 0-0 would be be good enough in the back of Arteta's and the players' minds.

I think you are correct. Someone else posted how good it was to see Martenelli chasing back and trying to force things to happen. That is exactly the reasonArteta dropped him for months after the draw at Man U. He said he did not play the way he wanted him to. If Arteta stays beyond this season , then Martenelli needs to ask for a transfer. Arteta does not like him and despite his rhetoric he will never play him. He has Willian, who again picked up an appearance fee. Today was mind boggling as to his tactics. Despite him, we could still go thru. We will however have to score at home. More importantly we would have to see our players play well above yesterday’s level.

I’m not sure about that. I really don’t get the impression many are knocking down artetas door with their performances. Martinelli is probably the only player I could obviously say deserves more minutes but I suspect his sporadic involvement stems from concerns about his injury.

Our midfielders are just shocking. Swapping and changing them is pointless, it’s not even worth debating pick the 2 least worst and crack on. Shocking distribution, no goals, no protection for the back 4. Just nothing. Hillier, morrow and selley please.

There’s so much wrong with the omelette generally it’s falling apart. I do wonder if going out next week is better than getting walloped by United in another final.

I have to say Aubameyang ‘s miss was pretty ordinary for someone earning over 300k a week. He had time and space. Let us hope he gets it together for the next game and he actually puts in an effort, something that has been lacking for months before he got malaria. Although Arteta may start him at left or right back to surprise Emery.

If I was sat here thinking well Arteta's team selections, tactics and in-game management are superb, if only he had better players to take advantage of his acumen, but that's not the case.

Last night was a case in point......poor team selections, poor tactics, poor in-game management.

The 2 things are linked though right ? You must see that

If Arteta has a third competent striker and has 2 injured strikers and one with malaria he doesn't contemplate a ridiculous false 9.

If he has a back up left back he doesn’t play Xhaka there.

If the club hadn’t let Ramsey leave on a free we wouldn’t have to play ceballos.

If you simply haven’t got enough competency you will struggle.

It’s all part of the same equation and the whole thing doesn’t add up, everything is wrong.

Don't overthink it - always better to be in a cup final than not - and we have never lost one to United.

No, though I do agree not everything is right!

Your probably right but doesn’t feel encouraging

I agree socrates. It’s too easy to write off players as useless and put it all down to that. Ceballos is the pet hate this morning. Sure, he had a dismal match, so criticism is understandable. But he isn’t rubbish. Not even close. He has eleven full caps for Spain as well as playing for Real Madrid’s first team (arguably the world’s biggest club and unarguably one of the world’s biggest) approaching sixty (56) times in the two seasons he was there before going on loan. That doesn’t happen if you’re useless. It just doesn’t - full stop.

That isn’t me saying we should sign him and nor is it me suggesting the likes of Barcelona, Bayern and Manchester United will be fighting to sign him when or if he leaves Real. What it is me saying is that some people overuse words like rubbish and useless to describe players.

I like to think I’ve been patient with Arteta. I’ve bent over backwards to put Arsenal’s problems down to the owner, and I do believe they are primarily down to Kroenke, at least more than any other single reason. I’ve highlighted the apparent improvement in our defensive security under him, and how some players improved under Arteta.

But there comes a point when it’s right to ask if Arsenal would be doing better with exactly the same squad as we have this season under other Premier League managers. My guess is yes there are quite a few, and I’m not even talking about Guardiola and Klopp.

6 or 7 good players out of 25 isn’t enough.

Everything else is a debate about the price of fish and chips

Of course I see your point and I've never said that the squad are a bunch of worldbeaters who should be challenging for the title.

Playing Xhaka at LB, with his limitations pace-wise, is something you do against poor to moderate opposition in the PL when you think you can get away with it not in the SF of the EL. He could have played Cédric or Bellerin there, or even Gabriel.

Playing a false 9 when you are already a team that struggles to score goals is a weird one. It was obvious that we needed an away goal last night but we actually reduced our goal threat by playing without a striker. Martinelli is inexperienced but he has pace and directness, a willingness to run in behind and at least he gets in the box. How many crosses did Chambers hit into an empty box?

Prime Barca and City can get away with a false 9 when they have the likes of Messi and other serious goal threats in their sides and even then it has not always worked.

Not bringing off Ceballos the moment he made that early 2nd half foul that perhaps deserved a yellow is just madness, incompetence of the highest order.

What were the two substitutions with 2 mins to go all about? Trying to run down the clock when it was 10 v 10 and we could have nicked an equaliser.

Arteta is just too conservative, his substitutions are often too late to be effectual.

I kinda agree with everything you have said here apart from the sub stuff a bit, it’s just all a bit well incidental really.

I’ve been reading on the Internet a selection of comments from our fans today singing Unai Emery’s praises and that he was a better manager than Arteta etc etc. Are we really that naive ?

I must be blind because in the parallel universe I live In the same problems seem to be occurring over that occurred in the same management as Wenger, Emery, ljungberg and Arteta.

I look at it and see about 6 or 7 players in our whole squad who are good enough and if for whatever reason a couple of those players are missing we always struggle. Just bored of it.

Martin Keown seems to agree with you Gaz.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football ... dium=email

To be fair, Gaz, if you look at a replay, PEA completely loses his footing just as he's about to shoot.

We were pretty lucky last night but we're very definitely still in it. Villarreal will feel they should've finished the tie by putting 3 or 4 past us - but they didn't, thanks largely to some excellent saves by Leno.

We were lucky to get that pen; it was 'earned' rather than won. I'm surprised it survived a VAR check but it's a valuable away goal. They lost their best player last night - Foyth - to a hamstring injury and they'll miss arguably their most influential midfielder for the return - Capoue - due to suspension. We lose Cebellos; enough said.

Hopefully, we will have one or two returnees next Thursday who can offer better selection options than last night's slightly bizarre choices. We were in a much worse position when for the second leg of the Slavia Prague tie.

Confidence is high.

Player that hates The Arsenal the most? (debate among a few American Arsenal fans I know).

Michael Owen __

Sherringham ___

John Terry ____

RVN _____

Scholes ____

Giggs _____

another ________

yesteryears okay

Nonsense. he could have slotted in Eddie. or Martinelli or even Pépé (who scored 22 league goals in his last season in France) up front. There's no reason to play Emile Smith Rowe as false 9.

He could have played Saka or Soares at left back. Playing Xhaka there is mental not least because he's desperately needed elsewhere.

That is not shuffling the deckchairs on the titanic.

Martinelli has had what 3 games againest lesser sides up front ? Nketiah? Who can only score tap ins from 4 yards againest crap teams.

Soares has no left foot made a massive blooper there recently and their right winger is their most dangerous player. Saka ? Well he’s our most creative player we need him in the final third.

These aren’t obvious guaranteed solutions they were mistakes clear clear mistakes but there’s no magic wand fixing our predicament generally.

What massive blunder did Soares make? It wasn't Soares who got skinned by Richalison in the last game. I do know that their right winger was their most dangerous player. That's precisely why you want a moderately nippy player at left back. Putting Xhaka there against Sheffield United was fine. But we needed a better plan against decent sides.

Playing Saka at left back a) wouldn't take him out of the game as an attacking force particularly if he was paired with someone like Pépé on the left and b) means that one of our other very capable forwards can slot into the right wing position ... Emile Smith Rowe for instance. Whereas taking Xhaka out of our already bare midfield means you are bringing in Ceballos. Again, lovely idea against SU but not wise to bust up our first choice midfield pairing against decent teams.

Guaranteed solutions? Obviously not. Giving yourself the best chance is what its about.

Sheringham without a doubt from that list

Aston Villa and Slavia Prague in the last 4 months !! Both goals came from Cédric Soares not wanting to use his left foot at left back. Putting us in a mess

Yes kind of where I’m at right now...

Chelsea and Tottenham have excellent footballers and both Lampard and Mourinho were underperforming with the resources at their disposal. Arteta can be criticised for tactical errors, of course he can, but he should not be blamed for not winning a game of cards having been dealt a very ordinary hand....

And oh dear this one is going to upset Bromley

Villarreal are seventh in La Liga; Arsenal are tenth in the Premier League. And that’s about right, isn’t it? Does Arteta have a better group of players than any of the teams above them? Leeds maybe? West Ham at a push.

Oh this I've got to see. A £70M release clause. Have fun Stan.

Bet Ødegaard/Ceballos can't get back to Los Blancos fast enough.


https://www.football365.com/news/arsena ... sfer-offer

Hang on let me find me previous post here ....

...... yes here

The one against Prague was hardly a 'massive blooper'. It did put us under pressure but he gave away a throw not a penalty. You sure you don't want to go back a bit further to find more evidence of his unsuitability? His time at Saints, perhaps.

Whereas Xhaka ... cast your mind back over the last 7 days and you will find two glaring examples of his inadequacy at fullback.

Hence my point. None of this stuffs perfect.

What do you mean by “...... yes here”? By the way it wasn’t me who wrote that article on Xhaka. It was written by someone called Chris Wheatley. So I’m not sure why you were asking me to use my own eyes.

You’ve completely misinterpreted my post Bernard

I was simply saying to Zed this is the guy who I had been told was signing for us a month ago

Okay.

I accept your apology

If there is one thing the far right all the way to the far left, every niche, every ethnic group, every socioeconomic class all agree on in numbers over 80 or even 90 percent, which is extremely rare in America is Afghanistan. Specifically the get the hell out, full stop 'leave the key under the mat' for the groups.

Biden has pledged to leave (as well as Iraq). However, shockingly (to some) Congresspersons on both sides are saying its a bad idea. Why? Well, the dirty little secret of money in politics. The 'Military-Industrial' complex that Eisenhower mentioned before he left office has given generously to many of them. Also, there are sometimes military contractors in very liberal districts. So, a very left wing politician wants the money train to continue because it would possibly mean less jobs in their area. Fair enough, but its the price of doing what is right. How do you justify possible loss of life for soldiers in a war that is no longer just over a job? Exactly, one cant.

Okay, lets look at the distinct if not likely possibility that we'll finish 9th at best, no Europe and have to sell to buy, basically we won't have a lot of money.

What is your plan on what we should do? (a realistic plan).

Boycott the Emirates until KSE leave.

Just Villarreal said Scholes.
Just Villarreal is 7th in La Liga, Arsenal 10th in PL. Spot the difference. Villarreal play 15th place Getafe 1 hr after our match against 16th place Newcastle match, both on Sunday. Curious as to the scoreline our match is when Villarreal's starts. And which side move up in their respective leagues. Both could.