The Emirates FA Cup 3rd Round ** Spoilers ** [10th - 14th January 2025]
- Thread starter explicit4u
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The clinging on pretty much happened after the sending off, with 30 minutes left to play. So definitely not all game.
I mean stats don't lie, in the first half Arsenal only had 4 shots with none on target. Possession was 60/40 too. That doesn't read to me as a one way game like you're painting it to be.
I think Arsenal miss Saka.
If Saka was playing then Arsenal would have won the game.
But they didn't, and didn't deserve to either.
Not much in it, hence pens. Hopefully they might win something this millennia, for no other reason than to shut them up
If Saka was playing then Arsenal would have won the game.
But they didn't, and didn't deserve to either.
Not much in it, hence pens. Hopefully they might win something this millennia, for no other reason than to shut them up
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I think Arsenal miss Saka.
If Saka was playing then Arsenal would have won the game.
But they didn't, and didn't deserve to either.
Not much in it, hence pens. Hopefully they might win something this millennia, for no other reason than to shut them up
You can't expect to win anything if a single player kills you. They had the same issue with Odegaard when he was out. They just struggle massively when key players are out. And yes, City have been the same without Rodri.
Arsenal need to sort themselves out this summer or try a new manager. Their football is devolving. They are overly reliant on set pieces and actively play for them. Thats not a long term strategy because teams are working them out and refs will put a stop to their special brand of cheating at them at some point.
They were a good and exciting team to watch the past few seasons but they have lost some of that.
I'm not sure we are actively playing for set pieces but when teams sit deep we seem devoid of any plan to play through them, we have more corners and free kicks in the final third because that's generally where we are playing when the opposition sets up like this. We need quick incisive passing, 1-2's, people taking their man on, etc, but all we seem to do is slowly play it around the back players to the other wing and vice versa. We are very predictable to play against. Add in to that our profligacy in front of goal when we do get opportunities and that's why we are struggling. Kai is neither a finisher nor particularly dynamic up front, if we are to rely on him for the rest of the season we won't be achieving much.
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And you train hard for them... Also take on average nearly 50 seconds to take a corner.
It's not a coincidence.
Says the Arsenal fan. Pretty sure Arteta is on the training field in the week working out how to bounce the ball off defenders for corners instead of practicing shots. What other explanation is there for the number of corners vs number of goals from open play recently. Does Mr Havertz look like a man who even knows where the goal is? Coincidence! I think not good sir!
It would be interesting to see how many corners Arsenal have won compared to other teams.
Not to mention the Dark Arts that they've implemented.
Found it, unsure how accurate:
1. City 162 corners
2. Spurs 159
3. Villa 132
4. Bournemouth 132
5. Arsenal 125
6. Pool 123
7. Chelsea 122
8. Toon 117
9. Fulham 109
10. INEOS FC 101
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Soldato
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It’s not when you don’t have a recognised striker, I may have mentioned this several times, yet Arsenal fans disagreed.
This stuff about Arsenal needing a centre forward used to be said about Liverpool all the time when we had Firmino as our striker. We regressed when we moved away from that and have improved again when moving back to playing without an out and out striker.
Arsenal’s issue isn’t that they don’t have a centre forward but they don’t have enough reliable goalscorers. Playing without a centre forward is fine if you’ve got goalscorers from other positions but they don’t. Martinelli (or whoever plays on the left) has to contribute more and without having that Mane type 20 goal a season player there, it puts huge pressure on Saka and when he’s not around they’re stuffed.
Arsenal’s issue isn’t that they don’t have a centre forward but they don’t have enough reliable goalscorers. Playing without a centre forward is fine if you’ve got goalscorers from other positions but they don’t. Martinelli (or whoever plays on the left) has to contribute more and without having that Mane type 20 goal a season player there, it puts huge pressure on Saka and when he’s not around they’re stuffed.
Soldato
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One of the rare occasions where we disagree.
We shared the goals round quite a lot the last couple of seasons but Martinelli's form has dropped off a cliff, Trossard very similar, Saka is injured too so we're relying on our striker, who is pony. If we had a competent finisher this season would be very different.
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As I said, look at Liverpool as the perfect example. You don't need to have a number 9 if you've got 2 wide players scoring 20+ per season. That's not to say a side can't be successful with a 9 but there's this all too simplistic argument that gets had that if Arsenal (or Liverpool before) had x then they'd score/win far more. If they did have that player then would they have created the chances that were missed?
Everything is a balance and Arsenal have made a conscious decision to play with the likes of Havertz or Jesus through the middle because their link-up play, work rate etc is considered more important to the side as a whole than their finishing ability. Simply adding a prolific striker to the side won't necessarily make Arsenal a better side if that change results in Arsenal being more open and conceding more goals and or the likes of Saka being less effective.