Tag: Ramsdale

Not at our absolute best but we take it one game at a time (Arsenal-Forest reaction)

With Arsenal getting as close as we did last summer, the record signing Declan Rice stepping into our midfield, and highly touted Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber arriving at the Emirates, there is a lot of hype and pressure around Arsenal and their title credibility and deservedly so. Arsenal should only be thinking about overtaking City this season and any thing less than 2nd would be failure. With all that said, 3 points anyway they come is the mantra til we get everyone settled into the squad and it wasn’t pretty but Arsenal scraped over the line to collect our first win of the season over Forest with a score of 2-1. We weren’t at our scintillating best, we had our moments of brilliance, got bailed out a few times but fought well to collect the 3 points and move onto Palace next week.

THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

  1. Arteta lineup for the season? With the positional versatility that our new signings bring the squad, there has been a lot of speculation of how the team would play this season, Declan Rice at the 6, Havertz at the 8, Partey replaced, Timber at RB and Ben White out, Timber at LB, Havertz at striker, we could go on and on about Arteta’s plan for the squad and I think we got our answer today: Arteta will mix it up quite often throughout the season. A lot will probably depend on our opponent, if we are at home or not, who is in form, tactical preference etc. The smart bet was to assume we would play like we did against City at the Community Shield, Ben White-Saliba-Gabriel-Timber across the back, Thomas with Declan, Odegaard Martinelli Saka and Havertz leading our line. Swap Jesus for Havertz and that is probably our strongest lineup but Arteta had other plans today with Partey slotting in at inverted RB, Nketiah coming into the team with no Gabriel. I can guarantee that Arteta will bring Gabriel back into the squad next week and with Timber coming down with a knee injury, who knows how Arteta will line up against Palace.
  2. Saka and Martinelli had their moments: Forest started out with a sturdy back 5 and an organized shape that was tough to break through. BUT this is why someone like Martinelli is invaluable to the squad, with Forest in their deep blocks of 5, Martinelli got the ball with momentum and took it on himself to take on two Forest defenders, back heel a ball into Eddie who did well to take on his defender and get the ball past Turner:
We don’t really have a player like Martinelli in the squad

Saka who was lively from the start did well to get on his left foot and curl a unstoppable strike top bins, more of that please from both of them this season.

3. Our left hand side might be an issue in possession: Not sure if it was a tactical decision but the bulk of our possession was hammered down our right with Thomas-Odegaard-Saka dictating a lot of our play down the right flank. We will have to wait and see if this trend occurs but it definitely creates a technical imbalance when we aren’t able to sustain possession and build-up from the right. Declan Rice isn’t the same player as Thomas on the ball, Saka> Martinelli and no Ødegaard type player on our right, that could change with Zinchenko slotted into our team but it was definitely noticeable how much we chose to play down our right flank. That being said, Martinelli was dangerous everytime he ran at Aurier so if Arteta wanted to keep the left side direct and our right to be our source for possession for the rest of the squad, so be it. I prefer more balance but will have to wait and see how we play in the next few weeks.

4. Kai Havertz is who he is at this point of his career: It’s hopeless to think he will change at this point, he comes from the Ozil family tree, technically brilliant, will come in and out of his games, massively frustrating, will have his moments but man, not sure if we can use him in big matches and in tough away grounds. When we play like we did today, Havertz just floated into the open space and I am not sure he or we knew where he was supposed to be in buildup. He wasn’t totally convincing today but will have to wait and give him and Arteta time.

5. Injuries already: Gabi Jesus and Zinchenko having injury niggles is not ideal but now with Timber going down, makes you thank God that Arsenal were efficient in their defense signings as we have Tomiyasu and Kiwior who can back up the LB position in the meanwhile. Didn’t make sense how when Timber went down the first time, we still kept him on. Definitely a black mark on the Arsenal training staff and depending on how bad his injury turns out to be.

6. Declan and Thomas Partey: Our best team has these two in there, Declan can run for days and Thomas on the ball is our best deep lying playmaker. When we needed to see the game out, it was nice seeing those two controlling the midfield. Need to get Timber/Zinny healthy so we can let the two of them cook.

7. Still had a glimpses of last season with us having troubles closing out a 2-0 game – need to put out foot down the throats of our opponent’s necks smh

Player Ratings:

Ramsdale – 7/10 – nothing he could have done for the goal, solid

Thomas Partey – 7.5/10 – Technically brilliant, got caught a few times, showed his age, still pivotal to the team

Ben White – 6.5/10 – Nice to see him play more centrally, got caught out a bit on their goal but it was a mess from the whole team tbf

Saliba – 8/10 – Rolls Royce

Timber – 7/10 – Was good up until the injury, need him back

Declan Rice – 8/10 – Grew into the game, was too conservative at the start but was more expansive as the game went on. Total engine though

Kai Havertz – 6/10 – It’s like watching Ozil, floating in and out of games like a butterfly

Ødegaard – 7/10 – didn’t contribute to the goals but you can tell his influence is all over the team. technical brilliance

Saka – 8/10 – First half unplayable, second half playable

Martinelli – 8/10 – Nobody like him in the team

Nketiah – 7/10 – If he keeps scoring, I will shut up

Tomiyasu – 7/10 – Did well when he came on

Trossard – 7/10 – Same as Tomiyasu, hard done not to start

Gabriel – Not on long enough to rate

Haaland/City – 0/10 – Chill the fuck out pleaseeeeee

Arsenal ticket team – 0/10 – get your shit together

Kent’s mental wellbeing -7/10- fine for now, need to keep collecting the 3 points

THANK GOODNESS THIS DAMN SEASON IS OVER (Arsenal-Wolves reaction)

Maybe next week, maybe next month, I can reflect positively on what Arsenal achieved this season but seeing what the Arsenal social media team has put out as it pertains to glancing over the negative performances with positive meaningless fluff videos, none of the players apologizing or acknowledging how they bottled this season away, Arteta talking about how we are going to go back at it next season, it just makes my skins crawl. I’m not really blaming anybody because anybody would try to focus on the positives over the negatives, that is human nature, but the way the club and players, in my opinion, haven’t come out and acknowledge how they messed up doesn’t sit right with me. Instead, they are going to give these happy end of the season posts, thank the fans, all that BS after we smashed Wolves 5-0 to end the season and act like everything is good. All I ask for is some accountability from the club, players, and manager.

Nonetheless, Arsenal rolled over a very poor, lethargic Wolves side to finish the season in 2nd place on 84 points, a remarkable achievement with no context and when comparing against prior seasons, but with how we choked it away, it definitely will be something that will not go away anytime soon.

THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

  1. XHAKA Farewell: I’ll keep all my thoughts on the season for another post and focus on what happened today, with Xhaka quietly announcing today will be his last game for the club, there is not a better way to say goodbye than with two goals to close his account as an Arsenal player. It is a shame he will not be with us next season when we play Champions League football as he was one of the main players that stuck through the tough times for this moment, but he is going to a wonderful manager in Xabi Alonso at Leverkusen with a country/league he is comfortable playing in, nothing but respect to the great Granit Xhaka. It wasn’t pretty, it got bad at some points, but he worked his ass off always, showed that he cared about the club and always stood up and took on responsibility when he didn’t have to. What a guy, Granit Xhaka.

2. No team shows up like last-game-of-season-Arsenal: These guys are shameless man, when the lights are off, and pressure gone, these guys have the audacity to smack 5 past Wolves and act like the past two months have not happened, you gotta laugh, otherwise you will cry. Xhaka had himself two goals, Saka with a delicious finish to the far post, Gabriel with a backpost header, Kiwior squeezing in a goal at the end, just shameless. Arteta went and put out Thomas Partey in a back 4 and it worked today but didn’t last week. Who knows if it would have saved our season ultimately but it would have saved us from not having to see Rob Holding back out there as an Arsenal player, that is for damn sure. All things considered though, Wolves were embarassing today.

3. Today’s game didn’t matter so will save all my thoughts on the actual season for next time.

PLAYER RATINGS:

Ramsdale: 8/10 – Didn’t have anything to do if I am not mistaken when it comes to saves

Thomas Partey: 8/10 – Much more comfortable today than last week, probably lots of random factors that come into that, but had more of his brilliance and influence on today’s game.

Ben White: 7/10 – He was good

Gabriel: 7/10 – So was Gabriel

Kiwior: 7/10 – Got himself a goal, not sure where he fits in long-term but his skills on the ball is something to behold.

Jorginho: 7/10 – Played a wonderful ball to Trossard for our 4th goal

Xhaka: 10/10 – What a guy

Saka: 6/10 – Had a wonderful goal but can’t get these past few months out of my head with him, needs to make it up next season.

Odegaard: 7/10 – What a season from him.

Trossard: 7/10 – Picked up two more assists today, what a signing he has been for us, will be massive next season when we are competing in both the league and the Champions League

Gabriel Jesus: 7.5/10 – had a goal to sign off his first season with us, will need much more from him next season.

New Arsenal Jersey: 6/10 – The jersey itself is fine, I hate the gold shoulder stripes, I’m more old-school about it with any bold gold markings on a jersey should be saved for titles, not anniversaries.

Wolves: 10/10 – Literally went out and there and didn’t give a fuck, I gotta respect it.

END THE SEASON (Arsenal-Brighton reaction)

It has been real, it has been fun, but it hasn’t been real fun. In the most embarrassing way possible, Arsenal bowed out of the title race at home by getting dogwalked by Brighton 3-0 . Completely outclassed, outworked, outthought, outfought by a superior Brighton team. Just embarrassing from start to finish by the supposed title challengers.

THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

  1. Arteta might actually just be an idiot: He has done well to get us to this point but I am starting to think this guy might just be a clown. Arteta went out and played the same starting XI he did against Newcastle which is all fine and dandy when you look at it high-level, but when you are playing an up and running, physical Newcastle side where you might need a Jorginho to bring some control to a game. But when you are at home and are playing a Brighton side that plays similar to how Arsenal do with their high press – build from the back style, you might want to try something different than playing a Xhaka-Jorginho pivot. The Brighton midfield trio of Gilmour, Gross and Mac Allister absolutely took the piss out of the Arsenal midfield today by their inability to ever lose the ball, nip and tuck fouls to stagger the Arsenal play and pretty much overrunning the unathletic immobile duo of Xhaka and Jorginho. Arsenal could never get a grip in the center of the pitch and Arsenal paid the price. If only we had a more athletic, phyiscally imposing and simply better player on our bench that could help (We did, and his name is Thomas Partey).
  2. We need to have a discussion on Saka: This has become really really bad. This man hasn’t turned up for what feels like a month now, essentially when we have needed him most, he has completely non-existent and nobody says or does anything about it. For example, you could make the argument that he was the worst player on the pitch but somehow he was the only one that didn’t get subbed off. This protection of Saka is strange and is definitely warrants questions that need to be asked of why he gets so much protection from the media and Arteta. Supposedly, our best player but doesn’t show up when we need him most, weird.
  3. Arsenal bottled it, straight up: I don’t want to hear anything about City, Arsenal weren’t supposed to be here or anything like that. In a 7 game stretch where you play Liverpool, West Ham, Southampton, City, Chelsea Newcastle, and Brighton and you only win 2 of the games, nah, I’m not sorry, you choked. You want to win the title, how about you win some games, how about that? You want to win the title but get slapped up by your main rivals home and away? Nah, not how it works. Even the Klopp Liverpool sides that lost out to City, they at least defended their home fixture and gave City something to worry about, we just continually get cooked by City home and away, it doesn’t matter. So high level, of course you can say Arsenal didn’t choke cause we were never supposed to be here but that is now how this works. You perform the way we did in the last 7 games, win 2/7 games, dropping 12 points out of a 21 possible in the meat end of the season, nothing other than a chokejob.
  4. Saliba about to be a very rich man: There are many reasons we are in the position we are in at the moment, dropping 12/21 points, embarrassing performances at the Emirates etc. and it all be attributed to when we lost William Saliba to injury. You can argue that since we lost to him to that Sporting tie, shit hasn’t been the same, you can make an argument that we replcaed him with a useless piece of life in Rob Holding but regardless, once the spine of our team fell apart, so did our title chances. Thomas Partey hasn’t quite been at his best without Saliba behind him. And with Saliba now fighting for a new contract with Arsenal, all he has to do is show the last 7 games and Arsenal can’t really do much else than to pay this guy.
  5. If you think Jorginho is better than Thomas Partey, you are the problem.
  6. I can’t even get mad at the ref for being incompetent at his job because we were so shit today: When Alexis stepped on Kiwior, how was that not looked at? Don’t get me started on the assistant referee trying to flag Trossard offside on an throw-in, can’t make this shit up.
  7. END THE SEASON
Continue reading “END THE SEASON (Arsenal-Brighton reaction)”

Arsenal boys showed up, but seems a little too late given how it seems impossible to drop points for City

Wow, forgot how much I hate Newcastle and their obese fans. A year ago last year, they were wholly responsible for knocking us out of the Champions League places after bullying us up and down the pitch at St. James to get a 2-0 win over us and fully sending me down a spiral of depression.

Earlier this year, they played us to the most 0-0 draw at the Emirates which an absurd amount of timewasting, fouling, complaining etc. Credit to them, they left the Emirates with a point but karma is such a bitch. Newcastle to their credit, have been tearing up the league since their Carabao Cup final loss to United and have bullied and punished teams in their backyard. Today, the Arsenal boys stood up for themselves and shithoused and fought out a 2-0 win away at St. James. Not much has changed in the title run with City refusing to lose, but at the end of the day, all we can do now given our recent mess ups is to keep the pressure so we move onto the next week.

THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

  1. We might have got away with one but sometimes, that is how things go: Literally from the get-go, Newcastle had banged a shot off the post and had a close-penalty shot with Bruno G. having a clear shot on goal form the top of the box. It felt like deja-vu from last year with their fans right on top of us with their players running free right through our midfield. Joe Willock also had a clear shot on Ramsdale and puts up a terrible attempt and shoots right at him and had another one in the second half when Xhaka puts in a game-saving tackle to keep the shot out of the net. Joelinton had a clear header in the box after a Zinchenko disasterclass that hit the post. Despite the 2-0 win, it felt like we got away with one, sometimes that happens but we just remember to count our blessings cause another day, this could have been compeltely different.
Continue reading “Arsenal boys showed up, but seems a little too late given how it seems impossible to drop points for City”

24 hours later and I will never get over how Arsenal screwed this up so badly , the most ARSENAL thing ever (Arsenal-Southampton reaction)

What a choke job, bottle-job, embarrassment, etc. Whatever you want to call a team putting up a shockingly embarrassing performance in high-pressure situations where you are heavily favored, Arsenal just did that times a billion. I am being dramatic and might have some hyperbole in there but as a highly emotional, overly invested fan, this team is everything to me and the players/coaches/management just sold me down the river for slaughter.

Arsenal in their past two games before yesterday blew consecutive 2-0 leads which led to 2-2 draws against Liverpool and West Ham (relegation fodder) to drop 4 points in a highly competitive and tight PL title race against arguably the best team in the world (Man City). And yesterday they outdid themselves in the most Arsenal fashion ever by drawing 3-3 AT HOME (AT YOUR OWN DAMN STADIUM WHERE THE MAJOJRITY OF HOME CROWD ACTIVELY ROOTS AND SUPPORT YOU) to the last place team in the league (20th place), heavily struggling Southampton to extend their league to 5 points at the top of the league with City having two games in hand. Just a nightmarish scenario for all fragile Arsenal fans out there. 6 points dropped in 3 games. You can’t make this stuff up but for Arsenal fans, we are numb to this crap at this point. Our next game is at the Etihad against Man City in a game where we must win, HA. At this point, City couldn’t be in better form and we are looking like greased up fat pigs for slaughter, just end me at this point before next Wednesday.

Continue reading “24 hours later and I will never get over how Arsenal screwed this up so badly , the most ARSENAL thing ever (Arsenal-Southampton reaction)”

YEARS OFF MY LIFE (Arsenal-Liverpool reaction)

What a sport, what a match. All things considered, could have been worse, could have been wayyyyy worse for Kent. Everything to play for, for Arsenal, extend our lead to 8 points at our haunted ground, win for the first time since Podolski and Cazorla, it felt like a win would all but give us the confidence to go on and win the league and then just like that, a 2-0 lead turns us into hanging onto dear life and now leave Anfield with a 2-2 draw. Easily could be a loss. Given the context of the game, felt like a 2 points loss to a point gained with Ramsdale making 3 incredible saves at the end to secure the draw for the good guys.

6 point lead with a game in hand and a game at the Etihad still around the corner. It’s looking bleak for us right now as Haaland and his dumb face and Julian Alvarez’s acne breathing down on our necks toward the end of the season. (I apologize Julian but I’m down bad now and lashed out) Hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

Continue reading “YEARS OFF MY LIFE (Arsenal-Liverpool reaction)”

REISS NELSON SAVED OUR SEASON (Arsenal-Bournemouth reaction)

In our best Drake and Future voices: “What a time to be alive”. This team man, I swear, is going to be the end of me, good or bad. This team’s belief in all their matches, the relentlessness, and the refusal to give in, is incredible. And they showed it again today with a comeback from 2-0 down to win 3-2 over Bournemouth at the Emirates. Just incredible scenes to fight back in a must-win game. I have been preaching all year you can’t lose your home games if you want to win the title and these guys did their best to fuck it all up to the league’s worst team. Can’t really explain how, can’t really explain why, they just did it again in 90+ plus minutes, the third time in the 2023 calendar year, Arsenal secured a winner in stoppage time to keep their 5 point lead at the top of the table.

Continue reading “REISS NELSON SAVED OUR SEASON (Arsenal-Bournemouth reaction)”

VAR AND OFFICIALS TRIED BUT WE KEEP WINNING, 3 POINTS FOR THE GOOD GUYS (Arsenal – Leicester reacition)

After disastrous defeats to Everton and City and a disappointing draw at home to Brentford, Arsenal has fortunately rebounded with two huge away wins at Villa and at Leicester today with a 1-0 victory. Arsenal have extended their lead at the top to 5 points and gives us room to breathe while City playing Bournemouth in the coming hour.

All things considered, Arsenal seemed to have somewhat stabled and righted the wavering ship, games against Everton midweek and Bournemouth are prime opportunities for Arsenal to pick up points and put pressure on City.

THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

  1. Leicester was dreadful. Leicester who still has so much to play for in their quest to not get relegated were objectively poor today, considering the circumstances of playing at home, with the league leaders coming into town, and they just stood back and soaked all the unnecessary pressure. Arsenal playing teams that dive into a low-intensity low-block is my favorite type of team to play. They offered no staggered pressing at all to switch things up like Brentford did, they had no cohesive strategy whenever they did win the ball which left Kelechi ridiculously isolated between Gabriel and Saliba, just an all-around disaster from Leicester, not complaining by any means, just saying the biggest driver to Arsenal’s 1-0 victory.
  2. Martinelli rollercoaster continues: In the first half, this man was driving me crazy. Every decision he made, was the wrong one. As a right-footed LW, he seems satisfied with just going down the line to play on his weaker foot, not even giving the defender an inkling of doubt that, you know, he might want to get on his right to wrap a right-footed shot at their shit keeper. Just maddening, as well as the few times the ball got stuck to his feet when we were intricately playing around the box and he just fucked it up. But to be consistent with what he has done all year, he gets us that all-important goal to solidify the 3 points with a devastating run for the easy finish. Just an enigma for me right now, but as long as he is scoring, I won’t say a word.
Continue reading “VAR AND OFFICIALS TRIED BUT WE KEEP WINNING, 3 POINTS FOR THE GOOD GUYS (Arsenal – Leicester reacition)”

WE GOT WHAT WE DESERVE despite var being the biggest waste of time and money for everyone involved. Kill me (Arsenal-Brentford reaction)

And just like that, Arsenal dropped another two points at home to mid-table Brighton with a 1-1 draw at the Emirates. Very frustrating afternoon considering the opportunity we had to rebound from a 1-0 loss to Everton last week, and we were at home, it was all set up for us to smack Brentford before Man City on Wednesday and it was not good enough, to say the least. 4/10 and 5/10 all over the pitch for Arsenal players, with all to play for is disappointing but we move to Wednesday against Man City.

THOUGHTS ON THE FIRST HALF: Arteta started with the same starting XI we have seen for most of this season and I think we are at a point where we need a change or two to spice things up. Arsenal saw a lot of possession to start the match as you would expect but Brighton unlike the earlier matchup between the two teams was well-organized and stood up to the Gooners at every turn. Martinelli, Eddie and Xhaka for me, were way below the standards we had set for ourselves heading into this match, never getting and coming into the match like we needed them to, made life easy for Brentford whenever they received the ball around the box. Just a lack of cutting edge from our standout players this season. If we are being honest, Brentford had the more clear-cut chances in the first half with well worked counters between Mbuemo and Ivan Toney up top where Arsenal didn’t cope with the pressure well at all. Rico Henry had a sitter where he incredibly hit it off target and Toney hit the crossbar with a wide open net as well. The chances for Arsenal were few and far between where there were spells of well-worked possession and intricate passing around the box but we were never able to open the low block/5 defender set that Brentford set themselves up with, leaving both teams going into the half tied 0-0.

THOUGHTS ON THE SECOND HALF: Arteta seemed to have gotten into the Arsenal players at the half as we came out of the blocks with may more intent and pressure than the first half. Arteta knew what was at stake and before the 60th minute mark, got Trossard ready to come in for Martinelli which was surprising, given the fact that Arteta usually waits on subs instead of being aggressive to make changes. Trossard who benefitted from the tired Brentford legs was lively from the start and was giving Roerslev the runaround a bit before Saka found space and time on the right to whip in a cross which was was well-finished and well-timed by Trossard:

It was a perfect moment. Arsenal had broken the deadlock and secured themselves 3 points to extend the lead before this debacle:

Just terrible, fucking terrible. Zinchenko getting pinned off, Saliba was dominated by Pinnock, Ramsdale all at sorts, and Toney had the easiest goal in his life.

BUT Lee Mason, that disgusting human being who was on VAR assignment for the game failed to take into account Christian Norgaard’s positioning for the goal. He did not draw the offside line for the Danish midfielder which then allowed for the goal to stand for Brentford. Just an abysmal performance from the Premier League, PGMOL, and Lee Mason for not doing the bare minimum for their job. Like the only reason VAR should exist is to get the objective parts of the game right, and they have failed in VAR’s tenure to do that consistently. It’s so basic, so frustrating.

At the end of the day, Arsenal weren’t good enough over the 90 minutes to get the 3 points, fair to say Arsenal are hitting their current low point of the season and needs to get their heads back yesterday before things unravel even worse, no better time to do it then against title challenger City on Wednesday.

MATCH RATINGS:

Ramsdale: 5/10: Made decent saves throughout but in the biggest moment of the game, came up short

Ben White: 5/10: Been pretty poor for the past few weeks

Saliba: 5/10: Outdueled by Toney for most of the game, lost out to Pinnock for the goal

Gabriel: 5/10: Struggled a bit as well

Zinchenko: 6/10: Tried hard

Xhaka: 4/10: useless in the final third

Saka: 7/10: Our only constant attacking threat

Ødegaard: 6/10: also tried hard

Nketiah: 5/10: May be back to his level?

Trossard: 7/10: did what he could for the team

Lee Mason: -10000000000000/10: F off

NIGHTMARES ARE MADE OUT OF THESE GAMES (Arsenal-Everton reaction)

Deep down, all Arsenal fans were waiting for this moment, when our backs are against the wall against a team we are undoubtedly better than player for player. Everytime this season, we have been able to back it up and collect the 3 points but this wasn’t meant to be at one of our bogey grounds, against 19th place Everton at Goodison Park. We haven’t won at the ground since Alexis Sanchez and Ozil were on the team and looks like we have to wait for next season to lift the curse as they nicked us 1-0 to stall our lead at the top of the table, through a Tarkowski back post header off a corner, kill me.

THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

  1. Where does this put the title? Don’t panic. This match halts our title league aspirations for sure, keeping us 5 points ahead of City but games like these were bound to happen. What we can’t do is panic as there is so much football left to play. We have City twice, City at multiple points throughout this season have looked vulnerable to dropping points this season as they actually drew Everton first time they played this season. Too early to panic, just take care of our business and we will be fine.
  2. Dreadful in attack today: Outside of Saka, I thought Martinelli, Ødegaard and Nketiah were absolutely dreadful today. Everton came in playing with a brand new manager and the new manager bounce is always possible but at the end of the day, champions win against 19th place opposition no matter the circumstances and these 3 were terrible today. Not once, maybe Eddie on one dribble in the second half, did they take responsibility for any attacking pressure to Everton, it was just lifeless from all 3 of them as Saka throughout the match did put Mylolenko in a body bag, he just didn’t get the support from his teammates.
  3. Xhaka may be feeling tired? Xhaka today was also someone today that stood out today as being absolutely useless. Every opportunity he picked up the ball in the half-spaces between Martinelli and Eddie, he gave it away. Because if our inability to retain possession properly, Everton were able to counter Thomas and Gabriel/Saliba at ease with Zinchenko and Ben White also isolated high up the pitch. We may need to look to give him a rest or he needs to get his shit together for Brentford next week.
  4. Gabriel has become our best CB at the club: Saliba will get all the plaudits for how good he has been in his first season and Ben White has been tremendous at RB but Gabriel as of late has become a monstrous colossus at the back for us. His ball-winning, ball retention, aerial duels, etc. He does it all for us at the moment. Many many times he was isolated onto Dominic Calvert-Lewin and every time he bulled the englishman and he’s pretty much taken care of every opposition he has come against. Maybe its the motivation on missing out the Brazil World Cup team, but he has been our best defender the past few months, fully deserving of this new contract extension.

5. Trossard might need to start next week against Brentford over Martinelli: not permanently, but just to rotate our squad a bit and give us a new look going forward. I have been on Martinelli the past few weeks on being too-one dimensional in our fluid attack and things haven’t gotten better. We were able to put paper over the cracks with Martinelli’s goals but that well seems to have dried up dramatically and maybe a new change of pace up top might be the answer for the time being.

6. Bounce back against Brentford at home and take care of City and we are back on track: Lot easier said than done for sure, but time to man up. Put up or shut up time for the boys, you’d wish it wasn’t prompted after losing at Everton but that is the position we find ourselves in, time to put things right these next few games.

Exit mobile version
%%footer%%