Arsenal FA Cup SF Post-Match Thread

We used to have silva conducting, fern holding and fast direct wingers going to the line. The amount of tap ins sterling and sane scored Was unreal combine this with full backs over laping and we took teams apart with 4-5 accurate passes. Can’t remember when we decided to change this but we need to get back to that direct team. We have replaced it with slow passing and 2-3 conductors all trying the same pass. We need pace and power on the wings to create the space for Kev to do his thing. Player positioning is all over the place at the min.
We also have wingers who always cut inside, that has a massive impact on the style you're talking about. When we had Sterling on the right and Sane on the left we were much harder to stop.
 
Disappointed , but Real Madrid's where it's at.
Fa Cup is a nuisance anyways.
 
The more I look at that performance tonight the more I think Pep and the players are only bothered about the CL. I know it's only 1 more FA Cup game, but it would have been 1 more game 6 days before playing RM. probably an intense game on a big pitch against a decent team that could go to ET. I'm not suggesting they threw tonights game but I'm wondering whether it was very low on priorities and Pep and the players will have forgotten about it already and will only be thinking about the CL
Surely a run of games would be better all g with a winning run of games going into the Madrid game. I though the half arsed performance against Bournemouth was down to looking ahead at the game tonight, Obviously not.

All I can say is, I hope your bloody right.
 
You're right that was a great save. Sterling's slap in the puss was probably not classed as a shot. It was the only one I could recall at the time

It probably brushed his hand too, so would probably have been disallowed had it gone in. It was one of those days.
 
We also have wingers who always cut inside, that has a massive impact on the style you're talking about. When we had Sterling on the right and Sane on the left we were much harder to stop.

Agree we have become slow and predictable. We currently need 3-4 midfield players on top passing form at present to create anything against a packed defence. I don’t mean sideways passing but clinical through the line. You can see the frustration. We don’t currently have the right personal. The only time we looked dangerous tonight was when walker or sterling/Mahrez ran direct. Silva shld of been replaced for Foden but that is another issue.
 
Surely a run of games would be better all g with a winning run of games going into the Madrid game. I though the half arsed performance against Bournemouth was down to looking ahead at the game tonight, Obviously not.

All I can say is, I hope your bloody right.

Could be something in it but I'm probably not right. I'm just looking for positives and an explanation for such a poor half hearted display by every player on the pitch
 
Our problem is that we have too many passengers at the club.

Bravo - Is he even still at the club?
Otamendi - Knows he's leaving.
Stones - more interested in fucking around than his football.
Cancelo - Knows he's never getting ahead of Walker and can't be bothered to pretend he's competing.
Zinchenko - Not a left back, never played in midfield.

That's 1/4 of the bloody squad who don't actually do anything.

Then there's the players who just aren't performing -

Gundogan - the creative defensive midfielder who neither creates nor defends.
Mendy - He's trying his best but he's not finding consistency in defence and his crossing ability has evaporated.
Mahrez - More interested in himself than the team.
Bernardo - Playing like Nurse Ratchet shoved an ice pick up his nose.

And of course Aguero is in Capri recovering from injury.

All in all I think we have about 9 players who are giving 100% at the moment. And one of those is leaving the club in a few weeks and another is a 35 year old who is no longer either a defender or midfielder.
I get a load of shit when I try to highlight how many problems we have with this squad. Can’t disagree with any of that.

I’ve been calling out Mendy’s crossing myth ever since he came back. It’s only now that people seem to accept it.

Stones and Otamendi are finished. A kid that can barely run is even preferred to them.

Cancelo... not convinced he is better than Danilo never mind Walker, despite being valued at more than double Danilo’s price.

Bernardo has vanished and I’m sick of people blaming the Mendy tweet situation as he was playing shit before that tweet too. It’s been far too permanent a malaise for it to have any connection to the tweet. People don’t even talk about it any more.

Gundogan is a liability, we know that, and worryingly Rodri hasn’t performed a whole lot better than him, if at all.

Aguero and Silva can’t press any more. People still see Aguero as untouchable in our team but I really don’t think he is, not at his current age and condition. He’s lucky that Jesus hasn’t nailed down the spot. We need a striker. Not to compliment Sergio, to replace him. He will drop off a cliff like Silva very soon. We would be wise to ensure he’s not still our go-to striker when that happens.

Fernandinho is not the answer to anything. He’s 35.

£250m-300m investment needed. Unfortunately it’s likely to be too much for one window, meaning we’ll still be off the pace next season. It will take another summer on top of this one.

If we think this squad is fit for the coming seasons we are not going to achieve our goals. Do nothing, or just a few patch ups, and we will decline further for sure. We can return to being a dominant force but Txiki has to pull it out of the bag.
 
Sums it up pretty well.

Terrible squad management by the club as this can't be fixed in one summer window.

Will one summer window be enough to win the league or champs league? I have my doubts.

It's going to take 2 at least.

I get a load of shit when I try to highlight how many problems we have with this squad. Can’t disagree with any of that.

I’ve been calling out Mendy’s crossing myth ever since he came back. It’s only now that people seem to accept it.

Stones and Otamendi are finished. A kid that can barely run is even preferred to them.

Cancelo... not convinced he is better than Danilo never mind Walker, despite being valued at more than double Danilo’s price.

Bernardo has vanished and I’m sick of people blaming the Mendy tweet situation as he was playing shit before that tweet too. It’s been far too permanent a malaise for it to have any connection to the tweet. People don’t even talk about it any more.

Gundogan is a liability, we know that, and worryingly Rodri hasn’t performed a whole lot better than him, if at all.

Aguero and Silva can’t press any more. People still see Aguero as untouchable in our team but I really don’t think he is, not at his current age and condition. He’s lucky that Jesus hasn’t nailed down the spot. We need a striker. Not to compliment Sergio, to replace him. He will drop off a cliff like Silva very soon. We would be wise to ensure he’s not still our go-to striker when that happens.

Fernandinho is not the answer to anything. He’s 35.

£250m-300m investment needed. Unfortunately it’s likely to be too much for one window, meaning we’ll still be off the pace next season. It will take another summer on top of this one.

If we think this squad is fit for the coming seasons we are not going to achieve our goals. Do nothing and we will decline further for sure. We can return to being a dominant force but Txiki has to pull it out of the bag.

One window is enough, but it needs to be brutal. I think on top of Sané and Silva, Otamendi, Cancelo, Stones, Gundogan & Marez need to go. Zinchenko if there's a good offer.

Then we need a LB, 2CB, back up RB, a deep midfielder and 2 forwards.

We have the money to do it, we're already 65m up after Sané and Leeds compulsory purchase of Jack Harrison.

My big question is if Pep is cut-throat enough to not just chuck away the obvious ones like Otamendi, but if he will realise Gundogan and Mahrez are never going to be good enough at the highest level for this team to replicate or surpass the success he had at Barca.
 
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My point was that we have got a huge summer ahead. Not sure why you felt the need to point that out.
You could say that Otamendi and Zinchenko are now squad players. Whether they are sold or stay does not affect the team. They weren't playing today and probably won't play in the major games.
 
Well at least we didn’t pay to go all the way down to Wembley to see that utter crap tonight.

Every cloud.
 
Second game in a row kdb had bad game and was off all match . Maybe he is burnt out but that was below his standard.
 
If you were being brutal who would be up for the chop?

Cancelo
Otamendi
Stones
Zinchenko
Mendy
Gundogan

??

I edited it into my comment.

There's no point selling Mendy. His market value is 0 and it just means buying 2 left backs in one window when we've got other big issues.

He's been improving consistently in defence since coming back, he's more than acceptable as a back up and there's a decent chance his spark of brilliance returns to his crossing after a few months back fit and regular game time.
 
The more I look at that performance tonight the more I think Pep and the players are only bothered about the CL. I know it's only 1 more FA Cup game, but it would have been 1 more game 6 days before playing RM. probably an intense game on a big pitch against a decent team that could go to ET. I'm not suggesting they threw tonights game but I'm wondering whether it was very low on priorities and Pep and the players will have forgotten about it already and will only be thinking about the CL
The truth is that we couldn't win tonight and we can't pass Madrid or win the feckin c.l. trophy... not with this squad.
 

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