Hello Ladies and Gentlemen. We have, yet again, an important game against Leeds United on a Sunday Afternoon, where we try to keep our ‘top of the league’ song playing.
Visiting Leeds is always hostile, they have one of the most vocal and loyal fans out there, and it is going to be a tough challenge for Arteta and co., considering we played an away game on Thursday. Gabriel Jesus is a doubt for the game because of the discomfort he had against Liverpool. Nketiah, despite showing patches of brilliance, is yet to display his end-of-last-season performance. This could be an opportunity for him prove his competitiveness; whether he takes it or not is something we will get to know in few hours.
Rise of Saka has been a blessing for Martinelli. Most of the teams have prioritised nullifying our right flank because of the threats Saka creates. However, this allows Martinelli to play a bit freely.
This only works in two conditions though. One, we need a link up player at LW who can overlap. Tierney, for all his defensive ability, does not provide it as much as Zinchenko. Even Tomiyasu linked up pretty well with him. He drops down for defensive ability. Second, he do not need to play touching the line. Most often than not, he is cornered or plays too wide surrounded by 2/3 players. Against Liverpool he was drifting in middle and that allowed him to be more aggressive, and he had options to pass. I guess this is because Jesus drifts to the wings some times and allows Saka or Martinelli to freely move.
Our threat on either side is creating a mayhem for other teams. In the middle, Xhaka’s improved role is another headache for the oppositions. He can shoot, and shoot well. Allow him space and time and his shots can be lethal.
This is all fancy stuff and looks good to eyes while watching the game but this is only possible because of our defensive ability. Gabriel, no matter how much you point out his individual mistake, has been brilliant. Saliba has brought calmness and both of them can be trusted in 1v1 situations. Ben White and Zinchenko/Tierney/Tomi have stood up to the challenge till now.
Can we do it all again against Leeds today? I believe so. Jesse Marsch had them on a bounce earlier but they haven’t been much of a danger in recent games. With or without Jesus, we should be able to leave Elland Road with three important points and finish another weekend at the top.
I am guessing a 2-0 win for the boys. It’s going to be tough, yes, but we are in one of the best forms of Arteta’s regime and we will keep that running.
See you during the game.
Job done! Now, we just need Citeh to lose.
Fucking chaos. I only saw snippets of the second half because of the stream. It’s no way to organise a league programme. It sounded and seemed as if the second half was nadir Emery. Why the fuck can Arteta not impose calm. He was a fucking clown throughout. Christ knows how we came away from that with all the points. Lucky Arsenal!
KP
I would give credit to the Leeds and Jesse, they pressed so well any other team would have similar problems.
Except that Gabriel’s kicking, it was poor.
Ambarish
Fair point. Leeds were much better than I expected. We looked to have regressed. The lack of poise and composure and the inclination to give the ball away could have made it far worse. No team can play at their maximum every game but I’d criticise Arteta for not managing instill that calmness. He was panicked and I don’t think it helped the players. He really needs to disabuse himself if the idea that his touchline antics are a positive factor. The opposite is true.
Two major positives with that bindips result. It not only widens our gap at the top, it also means our invincibles record remains intact for another season.
Well, it’s been coming we had the 15 minutes of chasing shadows against the Spuds and then a 25minute clueless chase the ball, but can’t keep it, and then yesterday 50 odd minutes of playing attack vs defense with all our 11 backs-to-the-wall defending.
Credit due to the lads, they left it all out there on the park.
Jesse M and Leeds threw everything including the kitchen sink at us where Ramsdale was our caped crusader throwing it all back at them but with little interest in the 2nd half.
3 games in a row now we’ve had these periods of bland inability to play keep ball and calm things down. Previously, we waited until half time, but yesterday we wanted the final whistle to end the misery of the paradoxical team we are.
There’s no point pulling players over the coals. Saliba is going to make mistakes: shocker! Jesus looked tired after being battered for all of the previous 2 games. Tiredness stifles creativity. Arteta’s beaming lights looked dimmed through over use and we were midfield light as always.
I hope Mikel has an answer to this emerging pattern because, worryingly, it’s getting worse instead of being eradicated. The January TW can’t come quick enough for at least our MF needs, until then, we need to be controlling our game for the 95+ minutes, not spending long periods of giving the ball away and wilting under a pressurized press being forced into the mistakes we should be forcing on our opponents’ games.
4 points clear of the summit and creaking a bit under the collective weight of expectations and blind euphoria from some fans.
There’s something cooking in The Arsenal: just hope Mikel can keep us on the front foot while not repeating previous mistakes and letting our hard fought gains slip away.
Have to say I enjoyed the City/Pool game on many levels. I’ve said to junior that the key to stopping Haarland is reducing greatly his supply, and then at least 2+ players around close enough to break his attempts to control the ball, which shouldn’t be difficult with the positions Haarland generally takes up around the edge of the box. That and a bit of the Manure collective Reyes treatment.
Klopp’s face being red carded was priceless. That and City are beatable. Not easily mind you.
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