The Winged Shadow Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 For whatever reason, Chelsea just stopped putting pressure on the ball.... I think they might've thought it was done and dusted. Good stuff so far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted August 18, 2018 Author Share Posted August 18, 2018 Actually, Arsenal should be leading by at least a couple of goals based on the quality of chances created. Auba misses another great chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted August 18, 2018 Author Share Posted August 18, 2018 Chievo are spoiling the Ronaldo party. 2-1 up now after conceding an early goal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 Both defenses conceding too many chances. Arsenal are so vulnerable to a pass over the top and really need to get organized: have the defensive line start to drop once the passer is not pressured. Chelsea have Alonso too wide and are allowing dangerous runs in the inside right (of Arsenal) channel. When the cut back arrives, Jorginho is not covering the penalty spot. Arsenal have had three glaring misses (Auba, Mkhi and Iwobi) from around 12 yards on cut backs with no pressure on the shot. Chelsea have a high press and better possession, so they have all the initiative. Arsenal can only play when Chelsea sit back and let them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 More of a stalemate now. Arsenal in a lower block and have Torreira. Chelsea show a huge gulf in class by bringing on Hazard and Kovacic. Arsenal need to take off Ozil. Either Laca or Ramsey would be better. Chelsea have all the chances and should score eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted August 18, 2018 Author Share Posted August 18, 2018 That was coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isalie Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 Dybala celebrating a (later disallowed) goal with Sorrentino unconscious on the ground seems like a very Juve thing to do.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted August 18, 2018 Author Share Posted August 18, 2018 So United are now far and away the most boring of the 'top 6'. Shocking defending from both sides. Chelsea dominated the 2nd half and probably deserved to edge it. Arsenal will be rueing those fluffed chances in the first half - could have easily been at least 4-2 up at halftime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mexal Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 Arsenal defense is so bad, from a defensive standpoint, pace standpoint and ball playing standpoint. Need an entire new back line if Emery wants to play a high line and out from the back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 Such an open, entertaining first half but it eventually settled into a bit of a grind against a rearguard. Chelsea deserved it. Arsenal got a goal and an assist each from Mkhi and Iwobi (Iwobi’s assist was heavily deflected) without either playing very well. Arsenal created good chances in the first half, mainly from good runs in the channels. Auba offers very intelligent runs but when he pulls out wide no-one is atracking the goal in his stead. In general, neither Xhaka nor Iwobi look good enough for any PL first XI, and Ozil doesn’t do enough to merit a starting position, and Mkhi is on the bubble. That’s a lot of passengers to carry. It has to be acknowledged that Lacazette had a lot of culpability for the winning goal. Guendozi is solid rather than great but should start ahead of Xhaka. Cech’s shot-stopping looked very good today. Once they settled into their low block, they could not transition into attack at all. Perhaps Arsenal will look better against some weaker teams but it looks like they’ll rely on some goal scoring to bail out their underwhelming general play. Chelsea looked great when Arsenal were being so accommodating, and their high press looked good while they could sustain it. They are much more adventurous now in possession and territory but more vulnerable at the back. Jorginho may be a luxury player: great in possession when afforded time but goes missing out of possession. Barkley had a decent game but then Kovacic came on and immediately looked better. Barkley’s season over already? Alonso scored and assisted but was a liability in defense. Hazard offered a lot of threat. Kante’s impact is reduced, but perhaps he’ll adapt to the new position. Morata scores and gained confidence but wasn’t really a huge threat against a weak CB pair. Kepa possibly could have saved both goals with stronger wrists. Overall, it was an advantage to Chelsea to play Arsenal while they’re in disarray. For Arsenal, they added their new coach earlier than Chelsea, had very few players at the WC, and bought more upgrades to their team than Chelsea, but they look much further from being ready. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mexal Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 Emery’s decision to sit back in the 2nd half and try to see out a 2-2 draw is such a puzzling decision given how bad Arsenal’s defense is. Bad tactical decision given how the 2nd half of the first half went. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted August 18, 2018 Author Share Posted August 18, 2018 1 hour ago, Iskaral Pust said: For Arsenal, they added their new coach earlier than Chelsea, had very few players at the WC, and bought more upgrades to their team than Chelsea, but they look much further from being ready. Chelsea do have the advantage of having a much better squad though. The big problem Arsenal have is that their backline is not very good at building play out of defence and their CB pairing of Sokratis and Mustafi are too slow. They were repeatedly exposed by simple balls over the top especially in the first half when Arsenal attacked more. The youngster Guendozi does look to be a decent purchase. Still early days but for a 19 year old coming out of Ligue 2, he doesn't look out of his depth. On Jorginho: He's a class player but I was surprised that Sarri had Kante bombing forward so much as Jorginho is not strong defensively and neither is Barkley. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mexal Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 42 minutes ago, Consigliere said: Chelsea do have the advantage of having a much better squad though. The big problem Arsenal have is that their backline is not very good at building play out of defence and their CB pairing of Sokratis and Mustafi are too slow. They were repeatedly exposed by simple balls over the top especially in the first half when Arsenal attacked more. The youngster Guendozi does look to be a decent purchase. Still early days but for a 19 year old coming out of Ligue 2, he doesn't look out of his depth. On Jorginho: He's a class player but I was surprised that Sarri had Kante bombing forward so much as Jorginho is not strong defensively and neither is Barkley. Guendouzi was awesome. About the only redeeming player for Arsenal though Iwobi/Mhki put in a good 15 mins at end of first half. It's not just Sokratis/Mustafi, it's Bellerin and Cech as well. None of them are good at building out of the back and with the lack of pace from Sokratis/Mustafi and positioning/decision making from Bellerin, playing a high line is absolutely idiotic. Still, even with that, Arsenal should have scored 5 goals so not entirely on the defense today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted August 18, 2018 Author Share Posted August 18, 2018 1 minute ago, Mexal said: Guendouzi was awesome. About the only redeeming player for Arsenal though Iwobi/Mhki put in a good 15 mins at end of first half. It's not just Sokratis/Mustafi, it's Bellerin and Cech as well. None of them are good at building out of the back and with the lack of pace from Sokratis/Mustafi and positioning/decision making from Bellerin, playing a high line is absolutely idiotic. Still, even with that, Arsenal should have scored 5 goals so not entirely on the defense today. Oh yeah, I was including the entire backline (including Cech) with my earlier comment. I think Arsenal have shown an improvement but were a bit unfortunate with the fixture list. If they play like they did in the first two games, they should do much better results wise with their upcoming fixtures. Some of the dinosaur 'pundits' will criticise Emery but I don't think that he should change his playing style - you will get some indifferent results in the short term but will be better off for it in the long term. Arsenal need to do what City did and invest in the backline - whether the Arsenal board will back Emery the way City's board backed Guardiola is the major question. Guardiola was also criticised in his first season for stubbornly sticking to his system even though their backline was not suited to it but that was necessary to properly implement his system as well as figure out who is and isn't going to cut it. He then proceeded to axe all those not good enough, upgraded the backline and now City are the best side in the country and playing a great brand of football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mexal Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 Yea, agreed. Arsenal won't spend the money that City did to upgrade their defense, especially now that Kroenke is going to own the club outright but hopefully they'll keep buying options until one or two finally stick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted August 18, 2018 Author Share Posted August 18, 2018 I'm actually surprised that nobody tried to sign Manolas from Roma. His release clause is rumoured to be around €36m. I think he'd be a great addition to Arsenal. I was disappointed that United didn't try for him as well. Instead we were chasing CBs with outrageous asking prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 Huddersfield don’t look likely to keep City goalless this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 Huddersfield will drop this year anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 Bernado Silva basically playing right wingback isn’t ideal for my fantasy team in a game City look like racking up a big score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 Getting comprehensively outplayed by Brighton. Joy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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