First game of the season, against a team which is playing its first Premier League game ever since the new format started in 1992 and we lost 2-0. They played better than us, were hungry for the win and it was a deserving one. Goals each from Canos and Norgaard sealed it for them and we, yet again, failed to score.
If you say the ‘illness’ of Auba and Lacazette just before the match is the primary reason, I won’t accept it. Except ESR, Tierney and a bit of Lokonga, there was no fight shown by the players. Mikel Arteta’s tactics (if there was one!) wasn’t visible and we continued the misery of last year.
Do we have to wait till Christmas again for a better run? A club where a top 4 finish should be the minimum, shouldn’t! A club which spent 50millions on a CB who looked piss poor last night should be doing better than that.
I would blame the people running things at the club. Splurging cash on a CB when your midfield has Xhaka and Elneny, no creators and strikers who are downing tool on you isn’t a good idea. We scored 55 goals last season, one of the worst ever but apparently fixing it was not a priority. I know the transfer window is still open for 2 more weeks but by the time we would have played 4 games. I don’t see us winning against the likes of Chelsea and City when we can’t beat a promoted Brentford.
Everyone can see we don’t have midfield presence. We play from the wings, and only on the left side. Our CF don’t convert easy chances, let alone the half ones. It was heart breaking watching the match. Mikel apologized to fans for the loss but it changes nothing. His tactics are poor, this playing from the back shit needs to stop and these endless sideways passing for the same of possesion based football is non-sense. It works when you have class players but we don’t have one for now. A good manager plays through the player’s strength!
On a positive note, he did play a young XI albeit it was a forced one with Laca and Auba sickness and Partey’s injury. A young team with Martinelli, Sambi, Saka, Balogun and ESR should still have beaten Brentford easily if the tactics were right. I am losing hope in Mikel and it looks even worse than Emery’s reign. As I am writing this, Man United is leading 5-1 to leeds, who are much better an opponent.
I don’t have much to write today after the loss. It’s gonna be a long season for us.
