Arsenal Debate: Does ‘pressing’ win you games or scoring goals?

Another rude awakening? How long before we know Arsenal are getting worse? by Eddie

Watching the game yesterday there’s only one thing I kept thinking; Arsenal is clueless, with no style of play and no direction. All hail Almighty Emery who’s our saviour with his pressing games. I see folks on here keep saying stuff like “Emery’s pressing is great, and it makes the players work hard” and “Under Emery if you can’t press then you can’t be in the team”!

I got a huge question; Does pessing win you games or scoring goals win you games? Under the so much disliked Arsene Wenger, we were known for playing good football, scoring goals without pressing and our biggest problem being our defence. Every pundit kept on saying how we need to fix our defence and then we can challenge for the league, we were like Liverpool before they got VVD. We played and scored goals with bloody Giroud and Walcott even though they were wasteful. At least we knew our strengths back then and knew what we needed to fix. Right now, We can’t attack efficiently, we are not creative enough neither are we defensive. We look lost on the pitch each time. Hold on to your horses oh, ye Defenders of Emery, let me land, I marvel at how you’ll say stuff like: “Emery’s been here just six months, he’s dealing with injuries” but you can’t seem to see that within 6 months, the attack and creativity that we were known for has totally disappeared and seems gone”.

We used to smack and lick our lips and we’ll say stuff like, imagine our team with Lacazette-Aubameyang-Ozil and Mhiki? Scoring won’t be hard. Now? Hell, we can’t even create enough chances to score and Ozil isn’t even part of that attack, even when Mhiki was out of form. Our manager kept on playing him and kept shutting out a certain Ozil, just because he doesn’t run around the pitch like others, as you would all call it, “Pressing”.

How much more delusional can we get? Previous seasons we were known to score goals and yet be wasteful with chances after creating chances upon chances. Right now, we are wasteful, we struggle to score goals and we hardly create chances. That’s improvement? The easiest games we’ve had and scored easily was against the worst defence in the league, Fulham. Still people think we are better than we were just because we run around the pitch?

Ozil was given a huge contract, the mistake has been done, if we get the chance I say sell him off and get a replacement but until we do that, do we have better options other Ozil? You say stuff like he doesn’t track back, yet I don’t see anybody questioning a certain Aubameyang who doesn’t track back, the only attacker in our team who does that perfectly is Lacazette. I’m tempted to see the kind of beast he’ll be under Klopp, but I can’t. We all see the struggles we had during that 22 games run. We all knew we were riding our luck and now we keep getting the reminder that we haven’t moved a bit away from where we were.

This isn’t about a certain player who earns 350k. This is about Emery using the team according to their strengths. This is about Emery having to use the team properly until he gets his choice of players, this is about Emery getting his selections right, this is about Emery not treating players like Mourinho does. Constantly leaving out a player after a mistake and coming out in the public to say things like ‘he has better players to win games’ sounds like no one else but Mourinho. Defend Emery all you want, we don’t have wingers, he needs to stop forcing us to play from the wings, we need our creative midfielders, and we need to stop this thing of trying to play from the back when we don’t have enough ball-playing defenders.

I don’t know about you guys, but I really don’t care if we don’t press as long as we win AND have defensive stability. I really wish there’s some way we could create a team of Wenger’s attacking football alongside a defence like Diego Simeone’s. We need to fix our defence, all this dropping out certain players because they don’t run or press isn’t working out, fixing the defence was the main goal and solution not asking our attackers to start running around like defensive players.

Scoring goals and having a good defence wins you games and trophies not running around the pitch without scoring.

Eddie Hoyte

56 Comments

  1. Nobody can predict the outcome of the games. But if I were a football manager, I’d prefer to force the opponents to make mistakes by using high pressing on them, as opposed to waiting for a perfect pass that rarely comes

    Guardiola and Klopp force their attackers to pressurize their opponent’s defenders high up the pitch. I watched Barcelona regularly during Enrique’s tenure and they still practice similar philosophy, the attackers are the first defenders and the defenders are the first attackers

    I understand that some fans are upset because the highest paid attacker at the club, Ozil, is being excluded by Emery. But let’s wait until the middle of the next season and see whether Emery’s strategies work without Ozil or not

    1. Agreed gotanidea. Pep ruthlessly got rid of players who don’t conform to his philosophy. So does Klopp. They are managers who believe in a way of playing and if players are not on board with that they are out. Tough but fair.

      Also is it a coincidence that most top teams (City, Liverpool, Spurs and to an extent Chelsea) like to press the opponent into mistakes as soon as they lose possession?

      I would argue if you don’t have the talent to “out talent” the opponent it is worth it to try to out-hustle the opponent. It worked to some extent against Liverpool at home and against Spurs.

      To insist on playing Ozil simply because we renewed his contract last season seems stupid to me. It is not the highest paid player who has a right to start but it is the player who impresses the manager the most.

      Is it a matter of Ozil not wanting to work harder without the ball or not being capable to do so? If you are paid insane money do you really have an excuse not to do what the manager wants from you?

      1. Unfortunately to follow the Pep Guardiola approach to weed out players who dont fit the required playing style takes selling such players and having .the transfer funds to replace them. Something we have been told Arsenal doesn’t have.
        With regard to pressing, it makes sense that it is difficult to score if you are pinned in your own half. The alternative is to soak up pressure, win the ball back and counter attack with speed.

        1. Not sure we have the caliber of defenders who can soak up the pressure. They need all the help they can get and this starts by pressing the opponent as soon as we lose possession.

      2. T-a-c. The simple and truthful answer to your last line question is a resounding “NO, YOU DO NOT.” Ozil is a weak, spineless character and until so many on here stop fooling themselves otherwise and continue hoping for a sea change in his attitude, then the required fan hostility to this man stealing huge wages for little in return will not happen. Were I manager he would be gone by next season, come hell or high water. I think Emery will manage that necessary feat, whatever it takes, since it is clear , that thankfully , Ozils regular laziness does not fool EMERY! I have REPEATEDLY , over a LONG time period, told our fan base on here that laziness in a team game is POISON. Sadly, it largely falls on wilfully deaf ears. Events , finally, will overtake that deafness.

        1. Fingers crossed he will be gone this january whether he likes or not and for socraties start talking that we miss creatity, he is right but not through Ozil, he just can’t cut in we need more direct, creative and hard working players i just wish arsenal can release him and pay lump sum.,and we were very luck to recoup some money for selling fringe players before wenger was gone – it was unbelievable how wenger was just handed out new and huge contract for average players – what Ozil is paid now, that used to be Emery entire budget while at Seville and won Europa cup 3 times and that’s why its painful for him to watch how Ozil perform and wants him gone this january.

    2. What is the point of playing with 7 defense minded players and yet concede like never before??!
      I swear give Wenger lucazette,Toroira, Gudz, Leno, papa and Auba and we will perform much far better

  2. You said not to talk about injuries but it’s part of football,the great man city lost Fernandinho for just 3 matches,they lost all 3 matches later guardiola came out and said man city don’t have a replacement for Fernandinho,no team can cope with the amount of injuries we’ve had and the worst of it all is that there are no proper replacement,I know this article is mostly about ozil,but come to think of it how many matches over the last year till now has ozil wow you with his performance yes I know we don’t have another creative player like him but we also went 22 matches unbeaten without him,bro the problem is not ozil sir the major problem is the injuries we’ve had this season,we lost the only hard working striker we have in welbeck,lost our standout defender holding,lost bellerin for 7 matches,Monreal has been off and on,we have only one winger in iwobi who has played almost every match this season and he’s tired,what do you think will happen if Liverpool were to lose vvd to injury for just 4 matches,we all saw the way they played against wolves without him.

      1. I hope and pray that Holding’s injury has had a greater impact than most of us seem to think it has. It does coincide with the team’s poor run of form. Let’s hope he comes back stronger than ever with a new defensive stud to partner with.

        1. Before Holding went off with an injury, I thought he was our best deffender esp on the air and setpiece. Everytime I see Mustafi I feel the lose

      2. Excuse after excuse after excuse.The truth is in the article by Eddie which are my exact thoughts.
        This man has ruined our style of play, can neither park the bus after being 1-0 which we are rarely now a days. This season is over, lets hope for something better next season with some better manager.And no European player worthy will ever consider AFC with this joke as coach.Even Isco is off to Juve,

  3. Give Emery a season like Pep and Klopp. Right? Truth is, Klopp finished 8th during his first incomplete season. Pep finished 3rd. Neither won trophies.

    However, Klopp managed to win City twice, Chelsea once, drew us once, Spurs twice. So against the top 5, Klopp managed 13 points out of 24 with that horrendous Liverpool squad.

    Pep managed 9/30 against top 5 during 1st season.

    Emery has managed 5 points out of 18 so far. If we somehow manage to win United and Chelsea at home, he wouldn’t be too far away from Pep’s first season. However, Emery has dropped us 12 points already against Palace, Wolves, Southampton, Brighton and West Ham. That’s something Pep didn’t do.

    My point is, these 2 aforementioned managers did show SOMETHING how they have improved their teams. Klopp got his tactics correct and managed his terrible team to go unbeaten (par from one United defeat) against top 5 teams. Pep LEAD the table until October, finished 3rd.

    We haven’t lead the table for a single round, we haven’t been even close.

    We have only beat Spurs so far, at home!

    Our defense is worse than ever, and it was bad to begin with.

    We finally managed to secure Özil to a contract, instead of letting a 45 million player go for free. Now he’s frozen out and we are letting another 45 million player go for free.

    Spin it how you want it, Emery hasn’t achieved anything in 6 months. We are in the same exact position we were with Wenger and I cannot see any positives Emery has brought. I do agree we need to give him time, but so far he hasn’t shown us anything.

    1. Maybe you need reminding that last season we were closer to the bottom than we were to the top.
      Guardiola had inherited a squad that had millions pumped into it.
      And in klopps case I would argue that he also had a better squad .
      Klopp did inherit good players like firmino coutinho Henderson and an array of talented youngsters.
      While Emery has had to work with a squad with too much deficiencies.You cannot even think of one shining light at the club a player capable of standing up and save the clubs blushes.
      He has had no midfield or defense to work with.
      It would need time and a careful use of resources to bring the club back to its feet

      1. Liverpool’s squad Klopp inherited was better than ours currently? I’ll have what you are smoking!!

        Mignolet > Leno
        Firmino > Aubameyang or Lacazette
        Skrtel, Lovren, Sakho > Sokratis, Mustafi, Koscielny
        Henderson > Torreira or Xhaka

        Right?!

        1. Very true sir! This should end the “first year” debate of Klop/pep vs Emery. The truth is that Emery is not in the league of Pep/klop/simeone/allegiri.Hes some third rate ok for a relegation club, which we will be in the next 2 seasons.

        2. klopp had inherited a squad full of fighters
          a squad that could play the way he wanted to play.
          a squad thy just missed out on the title.
          a squad that had lots of talented youngsters.
          and add to the fact that the league did not have the competitiveness that we have now.
          If Emery achieves more than 75 points he would surely have over achieved .

  4. This team has no strengths.The best Emery can do is to minimize damage.the squad has no depth or quality or even the mentality for being competitive.
    It’s silly to expect someone to come in and fix the disaster left in an instant.

  5. If what we played against WH is pressing? Its not going to work,i think instead of we pressing we got pressed by Nasri and co.
    Pressing is what bring goals ,we are presently not doing that right now,
    The author seems to forget some things
    1. We play games under Wenger in which we were shambolic and created nothing just like our last game
    2. Most of u believe of 22unbeaten runs were flukes because of our defensive frailties but i say that is UE typical game, outscoring opposition, remember one of his past comment ‘ill rather win 4-3 than 1-0’
    I really dont known what he is thinking now, probably he is confusing himself trying to find solution to our leaking defense
    I will take the outscoring entertaining pattern we played in our first 16 EPL matches than this boring defensive pattern, as during those time ,i was always confidence we were going to win, though we were loosing at HT, though we couldnt maintain HT lead, we kept on pilling pressure on opposition, that is what i can call ‘press’ not this boring sideway passes.
    UE give us back our real ‘pressing’ football

  6. Mclovin Liverpool nearly win the league with that horrendous squad man city won the league 2 times in the Space of 4 years before guardiola got there,please check your facts before typing

    1. I know exactly the facts, I just pointed them out. Pool’s 13-14 season was solely backed by Luis Suarez. Remember that same season we also lead the table come January because Ramsey was on fire. After Ramsey got injured, we went downhill. After Suarez left, Pool went downhill fast.

      Pool had a horrible squad, Klopp came in, things changed and you could see what was changing after 6 months.

      Pep came in, things got different, players like Sterling, Stones etc. started performing. You could see what was changing.

      Emery came in, after 6 months I’m not sure what has changed so I’ll ask you again: what has Emery changed so far?

      1. Mclovin, The style has changed, we now play with 7 players who’s responsibility is mainly defending…………….. that’s working well then!

  7. How people don’t see that we have been left in poor shape after Wenger an gazidis mismanagement is beyond me.
    The fact that people here say ozil is the player who can make the difference speaks volumes of the desperate state of our club.For a man who was appalling in 2018 to say the least and people still see him as the savior?
    Did you expect that one transfer window was going to save anything that Wenger has destroyed for years?

    What did Wenger leave us with?
    Cech-a player past it
    Koscienly- an aged player who has made many silly errors.
    Mustafi- one of the poorest signings of the Wenger era.An Everton reject.also played a part in Valencia 7 0 thumping by Barcelona.
    Monreal- old player prone to injuries and mistakes
    Very unreliable
    Xhaka-I fail to see how he is even a footballer makes error after error after error.Only thing he is good at is getting suspensions and send-offs
    Elneny-another one who is a waste of resources at the club.diabolical player who steals thousands
    Ramsey-tries to do things he is not good at.
    Tries to be Messi ends up being Walcott.Tries to be Ronaldo ends up being Townsend
    Lacazette-a player rated below giroud by his national team.His output for the club has not been that impressive for a 50mil player.foes well against the big teams though
    Aubameyang-a player who relies on Pace signed at 28 years old.Rarely gets involved in play though he scores regularly but not so much against the top 6.
    How long is left before he becomes Walcott?

    Mesut ozil-The most overrated player of his generation steals 350k a week from the club due to mismanagement.
    Called Lord by his fanboys Everytime he flicks a pass or completes a dribble after 5 games.
    Has barely scored more than 5 goals a season.
    One of the players who couldn’t care less about the team given arsenal is his best retirement home and is satisfied with all the medals and accolades he has received in his career.

  8. We have no player that can start for any side in the top 6.
    We have a squad closer to Westham Watford and Everton level(bitter truth)
    Wenger and gazidis have done criminal acts against their club.Iys their fault the club can’t spend this Month.Overpaying and overspending on mediocre players.
    It is their fault we cannot compete for top 4 because as other top 6 teams improved the club stagnated. The club couldn’t move on from players like diaby and rosicky who held the club hostage and we owed nothing to
    Had Wenger stayed for 5 mo years we would be battling for top 10 because even clubs like Westham Watford and Everton would have caught up

    1. Ramterta, you are wrong; Chelsea would buy Lacazette or Aubameyand tomorrow, if they were available.

  9. if anyone thinks that we have a pressing game to match that of the other top teams they are deluding themselves … wenger utterly failed on that front and too many players have been schooled in that tradition but Emery should be able to correct that as its not about skill but effort but as far as i can tell he has failed miserably … next issue please

  10. Pressing , done by ALL in the relevant pitch area DOES work. There is a mountain of evidence from other successful clubs who use it that it WORKS. Our problem is that we do NOT do it or do it half heartedly at best. Dan, though you have missed my comments, I have several times said that Auba is only a goal poacher and shows a lack of regular effort in different situations, whereas Laca works hard all the time. More damningly we have two central midfield quality creators , one of whom, Ozil, has sublime talent. BUT both do not work hard enough and BOTH are injury prone, and therefore UNRELIABLE. As a pragmatist, Emery knows and sees that very well and so has tried other ways to resolve this midfield creative unreliability and unreliablity of effort. So far , he has failed and the whole team looks shapeless and shambolic much of the time with STILL a joke of a defence(10 years now and counting ).

    The clear need, seen by all Gooners, though some do not admit it, is for a new owner with ambition and one who supports the club. Nothing FUNDAMENTAL will change until this happens. The only realistically possible way to get him out by selling is a total or near total boycott of the ground for as long as it takes to force a sale That will not be happening, sadly but also realistically. Other than that we need a total collapse in results to such a degree that the clubs asset value falls and we flirt with or “achieve” relegation, for Kroenke to consider selling.
    We have to accept that our club was stolen from us by the betrayal of the directors who sold out to Kroenke a decade or so ago. This is the dismal fact and we, if we have self courage, must face up to it and stop fooling ourselves that we cn ever seriously title challenge while Kroenke owns us. We cant! Weep if you wish: I do constantly but only action can ever change things. As I say, THERE IS NOT A WILL AS YET TO TAKE THAT ACTION. So the status quo will remain, tragically for us fans.

    1. Ozil may not sprint much but he does run a lot, he runs more than people give him credit for, Ozil is not a sprinter.

      To be fair Jon, a lot of Arsenal fans have judged Ozil on Wengers’ Arsenal, a team that lacked any real DM to cover the CM. While Ozil was given a stage to perform on in an attacking sense, we lacked the foundations to build that attack on.

      Now with Emery, Ozil has been forced to play out of pos a lot and asking Ozil to play a style that doesn’t suit him.

      Both managers have failed to truly make the most out of Ozil, the right tactics and he has proven he can be a game changer. We can’t really deny the fact that both Emery and our ex manager failed in their own way to get the best out of a WC player.

      1. So Arsene Wenger, Unai Emery, Carlo Ancelotti have all opted against building a team around Ozil, and you dont think that says anything?

    2. Saying, I wish we could create a team that attacked like Wenger’s Arsenal, and defended like Simeone’s Atletico. That basically tore up everything else you said. If you watch Atletico under Simeone, you would see why it would be impossible to play – an all out expansive game – and stay just as solid ..it’s impossible. That team defends in numbers, like every single player, even Greizmann worked his socks off. Arsenal was the opposite almost, everyone helped out in attack. Long ago – Wenger got the balance right, and only a couple of teams have come close to a similar balance. But we’re talking about recent Arsenal, and recent Simeone, it’s a contradiction.

      Ozil, I keep hearing that he should’ve played. I don’t know about all of that. I seen what Emery’s game plan was, and it almost worked, but for a bad clearance and some poor positional play. Anyway- Iwobi created as many chances in that away game, as you’d expect from Ozil on a good day. One in particular, if Ozil had played a one touch ball like that, we’d all be harping on about his brilliance. Not to mention that Iwobi put a fair bit of graft in, and that is what Emery wanted from them all esp in a tough away game.

      Wham set up as if they were playing away, like they were the away team. We set up to try and leak as little as possible, and come away with a point or three points. We needed to score first, we set up to try and scrape a win by an odd goal. It’s just that – when Auba is being marked well, or he’s not himself, we don’t get enough from other players to step up in his absence. Iwobi looked like he was on course to do so, but then they stuck a man on Iwobi and gave particular attention to him, because of the first half scares. Iwobi done enough in that first half for us to be winning, only the other players chose wrongly and they didn’t have the desired drive.

  11. Worthless Emery should be out as early as possible otherwise the tactician and his favorite Genduezi will push Arsenal once great to relegation if the guy is allowed to show his magic. In fact the man does not know ABC of English Football.

    1. “It is far better to stay silent and be thought an idiot, than to open your mouth and confirm the fact.”

  12. with the resources Arsenal has it needs an intelligent manager. Unai is not, he is just average.he reminds me of Mourinho.he believes when players run and run they are making effort! what a joke. how about using brains?

  13. Let’s just sack him and hire a top top coach who willl come and turn us to title favorite by spending 60m,most people here are just so bitter about ozil and wenger that they want the club to fail to make some stupid point,comparing us with man utd who have qualities all over the pitch or Chelsea who have the best player in the premier league (hazard)and very good defenders,man city who spent 173million on 3 defenders alone,you think emery is clueless and not the best man for the job,let’s sack him and see which world class manager will want to come to arsenal with this owner still in charge.

    1. REALITY! Managers such as Guardiola, Klopp, Pelligrini, Benitez.and Wenger respect Emery for the job he is doing with the difficulties he faces; but what would they know?

  14. Name one team ranked above us, that doesn’t use pressing and a high backline.

    Liverpool, City, Spurs and Chelsea all do it.

    Barca, Bayern, PSG and many others as well.

    It is the modern way to play, but we have to learn it after years and years without it and without any major success.

    1. Difference is that Emery will get the team to play the ball back to the GK before attacking, those other managers will get the team to attack from when they win the ball back.

  15. I keep saying it, we need to sign only players with skill and pace to burn for 90 minutes. The midfield is the engine room that makes the difference most of the time. We need 2 Carzola type players in their with the skills to initiate attacks with pace and create chances for the strikers. Xhaka and Ghendouzi are to slow and don’t have what it takes to do that, hence the sluggishness in our play.

  16. Your spot on AndersS. Emery must ditch the defensive 3 centre backs without delay.You cannot have an effective pressing system when a deep defence is deployed.All the top sides in Europe play with a flat back four.They all press together and defend together.This is not rocket science but tactics which combines energy with skill.We have energy in the team but we we don’t have a KDB or David Silva like Man City.Liverpool,s midfield is full of energy but lacks creativity, but they have without doubt the best back four and arguably the best front three.Ozil has as much creativity as anyone in the Premier League but he does not have the energy to make him a complete player.As the Owner of this Club i would however be seeking some explanation why our highest paid asset is not being trusted to perform on a regular basis?I very much doubt if Kroenke is interested, but he dam well should be.

    1. Grandad, unfortunately Ozil’s non availability due to various injuries has not helped him to be “trusted to perform on a regular basis.”

  17. I honestly believe that if Arsenal would sign 2
    players in January they’d have a good chance(
    especially with a win vs Chelsea) of seriously
    battling for the last CL spot and the financial
    windfall that goes with it. Harry MaGuire from
    LC and Doucoure from Watford would completely
    Imho transform the fortunes of AFC and
    galvanize the team going forward in all
    competitions. MaQuire is a commanding, nasty
    CB with loads of EPL experience, Doucoure the athletic, aggressive B2B that covers endless
    miles on the pitch and more importantly allow
    Ozil to play in his preferred, floating #10 role.
    Neither would come cheap, somewhere around £100M but what exactly is the point of waiting
    for the summer to spend when the possibility of
    CL futbol is well within your grasp. Arsenal could also attempt offset this expenditure somewhat
    by attempting to sell Ramsey, Mustafi, Xhaka
    and El Neny in the remaining days of the window.
    Is it likely? NOT REALLY, but what are we paying Raul and Vinai for? I understand there responsibilities extend off the pitch but atm the grestest issue at the club is the lack of true
    quality that currently exists on it. It’s obvious to
    the majority of Arsenal fans worldwide that the players listed above and quite frankly a few
    others are not good enough to play meaningful minutes in a top EPL 4 side and collectively could bring in £60M if sold NOW. WHY NOT put out feelers and attempt to move them on even for
    a slight loss.

    Wouldn’t this starting 11 be good enough to
    challenge Manure and Chelsea?

    Laca…Auba
    Iwobi…Ozil
    Doucoure…Torreria
    Saed…MaGuire…Socratis…HB
    Leno

    It’s simply exasperating to hear
    Emery unequivocally state that a billion dollar
    entity like Arsenal has not a pot to piss in and
    can only consider loan deals this January.

    IMHO that just ain’t good enough Arsenal.

    1. Ace very well made points. I think the key is “ambition” which our owner clearly lacks. He could sell some players for a slight loss, but getting their wages off the books would allow us maneuverability in transfers. For example, selling Mustafi for a loss would get us money plus his wages to go after better CB. Selling other fringe players on high salaries can accomplish a lot, if one has the will to make the decisions.

      I see where they exercised the option on Monreal for another year, when he has rarely featured this year, and has clearly lost a step in his pace and defending. Why not sell him, save on the wages, and look to bring in another player.

      It’s these types of decisions that drive me crazy. I’ll wait to the Summer (as we all have no choice really) to see salaries from Cech, Kos, Lichtsteiner, Ramsey, to name a few come off the books.

      With the new addidas deal, millions in wages freed up, then we will see whether our owner is up for it, or if he is full of sh!t like I believe him to be. I figure we will make 1 big purchase, a few unproven players, a retread or two, and then endless weeks and speeches about how we can’t afford to compete with wages now.

  18. I don’t know if anybody noticed that our 22 unbeaten game ended abruptly from the day Koscienly took over our CD. This present defenders if at all they’re defenders are not ball players. UE need to ship them out asap. If Stan Kronke & co continue with their lack of ambition for the game of football and refuse to dole out fund for Unai to get the players that will do the job he want, the best is for to start looking forward to another club if he values his career and still want to be relevant in the profession. Imagine the lack ambition and I don’t care attitudes of our defense last week, Kos & co were not aware that are in a competition, ever since his come back the small pressing stopped, the ball will move from Leno to Kos to Mustafi to roving yellow/red card Konstantnopolos back to Leno to Kolasiniac to Koscienly to sometimes Ghendouzi to Mustafi to Koscienly and back to Leno, putting the keeper under un- necessary pressure. Our keeper plays and touches ball than our opponents, it was Sesseezznly or Cech that has been manning our goal post believe me it would have been worse. It is in this their that they commits terrible blunders that always results to goals that shouldn’t be. They keep tossing the ball amongst themselves no pressing forward, no proper linking up the players middle or upfront that they turn our strikers to spectators and fans, the ball can only pass through when Iwobi comes to pick from them at the back and the opponents have read it and will do their best to choke him before he could send any damaging thorough pass, Lacazette will come back also to pick the ball from defense and we ‘ll be expecting goals, where is the pressing from the back when Kos & co are busy doing trainings and back passes? Unai Emery will just be watching no instruction to change tactics, approach and attitude, it’s not just enough to substitute players make more inputs if you must win a match. As for me our defenders are not interested in winning matches neither cares if they are losing, there is no hunger or winning mentality in them.

  19. Eddie, I think you may have forgot the part where we pass the ball back to our own GK anyway once we win the ball back and doing that with such a high press is wasteful.

    If we add into the mix the tactic of 3 CBs, which means one less player further forward to press, means we are generally at a number disadvantage to perform the high press. One of the reasons a high press can work is due to cutting out passing options and forcing mistakes to happen, with less bodies in attack then we have less bodies to cut out passing options and getting ‘stuck in’, this allows even average opponents to play out from the back better than we can press high up.

    I wouldn’t say get rid of him yet, I would say to start searching for a rep and let Emery know he has to do better or else.

  20. The defending of Ozil keeps looking sillier and sillier. the guy wasn’t even in the country when Arsenal lost this weekend, yet you think he cares about the club and getting his place back? You must be joking! Guy gave himself a mini-holiday instead of working his hardest to get back in Emery’s good graces. The fact Ozil proves his manager right by behaving like that really says it all. Only in your heads would Ozil have won us the West Ham game. Or maybe he would have, but we’d be very sure he would disappear for the next 10 ones after that. That tends to be his thing. Ozil’s work was done for the first half of the season after Leicester.

    1. Ozil contract should have been filled with incentives. For example, pay him based on assists; with Laca and Auba in front he should be drooling over the thought. Obviously money is a motivator for him, and it was stupid to pay him so much on the front end. I think if he was on pace like several years ago with assists, we would all delight in his performances now. Too much guaranteed money upfront, so no wonder his performances have dipped.

  21. Actually like in West Ham, when defending that Arsenal players just ran without pressing enough the West Ham players, and when attack the players looked afraid to fight and dribble one on one with opponent and often passing back to defenders.
    IMO, It should be like in Band of brothers movie, Breaking Point episode, when Captain Winter give instructions “Keep forward.. keep forward…!!”, this is to give motivation to the players

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