The Title Race 2022/23

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tolmie's hairdoo said:
Correct. Pep can fix it and he will.

Perhaps he will need to sacrifice total dominance of the ball or look for more balls over the top, but he will know exactly what the problem is.
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We are so afraid of losing possession that we so often overlook a riskier pass that would open up a team. Happened numerous times on Saturday where Haaland and Kev made runs in behind and every single time we turned the pass down and just went sideways and backwards.
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
Correct. Pep can fix it and he will.

Perhaps he will need to sacrifice total dominance of the ball or look for more balls over the top, but he will know exactly what the problem is.
Click to expand...

I think when Phillips shakes off the rust we will see a proper 4231 with Phillips and Rodri sitting and KDB playing off Haaland as #10.

Haaland needs someone up with him, Bernardo needs to sit on a bench, rest up for a while and decide if he wants to be here or not.
 
pavelsrnicek said:
And despite all that they only got a result by virtue of one the worst decisions in the history of the premier league
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We did but they shouldn’t have been in those positions to score those goals anyway. We should have shut up shop and maybe put Phillips on to be an extra person in front of the back four. If we want to be successful this season they need to know how to kill a game, we’ve frozen at Madrid and now Old Trafford collectively losing their heads.
 
domalino said:
I think when Phillips shakes off the rust we will see a proper 4231 with Phillips and Rodri sitting and KDB playing off Haaland as #10.

Haaland needs someone up with him, Bernardo needs to sit on a bench, rest up for a while and decide if he wants to be here or not.
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All fair observations. I wouldn't mind even Kev playing wide right and Phil or Gundo playing off Haaland in the ten?
 
This game for me against spurs reminds me a little of 2018/19 season

december match day day 16 we played chelsea and lost we then proceeded to lose two more games in december back to back match day 18 and 19 against palace and leicester.

this resulted us in being 7 points behind liverpool and proceed to play a major game/performance we all remember that kicked us on.

constrasting that with todays season. we are around simular times in the season with a simular opponiont above us with a simular points gap.

this week is huge in terms of beat spurs and wolves and arsenal go into their game with a 2 point gap against united.


i think some of our big hitters are out of form kdb bernie and foden.
I also think it hasnt remotley helped us all year that we havent had a fully fit back line.

Laporte out (may-october) stones (september - october) dias (post world cup) walker (october - post world cup) and now stones again too. Weve essentially been playing at least one if not two of our so called 4th and 5th defenders (who have been great)

I think getting ruben back is huge because hes our leader on the pitch for me.
 
Watching Arsenal yesterday reminded me how we played when we were at our best. Quick, fluid, incisive, adventurous, confident and creative. You couldn’t use any of those words to describe us now.
Chelsea 4-0 aside we have been very ordinary since the Brentford game and I struggle to see how that’s going to change.
I fear the worst against Arsenal. They are by far the best team in the league at the moment.
I can’t see them dropping many points. Our form would suggest we’ll drop plenty.
 
domalino said:
Or Jack? I would love to seem him given free reign of the #10 pocket for a few games.
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I can't see it doing any harm. He would certainly bring us closer to goal and earn us our fair share of free-kicks in dangerous positions.

I do think Kev needs to come out of the centre now, most of his best work these days is wide right and his crossing would come in to the box far quicker and from deeper too.

If we have two holders, there is more margin for risk.
 
bluedreamer said:
Watching Arsenal yesterday reminded me how we played when we were at our best. Quick, fluid, incisive, adventurous, confident and creative. You couldn’t use any of those words to describe us now.
Chelsea 4-0 aside we have been very ordinary since the Brentford game and I struggle to see how that’s going to change.
I fear the worst against Arsenal. They are by far the best team in the league at the moment.
I can’t see them dropping many points. Our form would suggest we’ll drop plenty.
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things can change quickly though. I get why some look at arsenal and see us at our best. I personally dont think that at that level yet. But their getting the points with nice performances. For me their issues arise when teams start sitting in blocks against them like they do city because currently opposition teams are still arrogant enough to have a go hence the open fluid game.
When theyve had to face low blocks theyve struggles ie southampton newcastle and even united at OT.


Our form without a doubt needs to imporove and improve fast. We have 20 league games to get through yet and plenty can change us and arsenal have 3 games a week starting again soon can their squad handle it because right now they have been extremely fortunate with injuries.
 
The race is still on in my opinion

We’ve still got to play Arsenal twice. I still feel we can beat them. As good as they have been, they like to play football which could be beneficial to us, could be a more open game.

United beat them once already this season, no reason that game can’t end in a draw or defeat for Arsenal, we also saw Arsenal draw with Newcastle. So it’s not like they’re just going to breeze past any side. They have played two of the current top four and only taken 1 point in total.

still 20 games to go, 8 points can be dropped easily over that duration.

We obviously need to up our game, and that’s gonna be a challenge, but we are more than capable. I don’t necessarily think Arsenal are going to get much better. I think they are pretty much flat out at their peak right now, but that can easily drop in the next 20 games.

There’s no need to throw the towel in. If some of our players get their heads out of their arses and start playing again, there’s no reason we can’t hunt Arsenal down. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. We’re not even half way through yet.

If we beat Arsenal when we play the the first time, that could send some doubts into their minds and you could see the tide start to turn.
 
Crooked_rain said:
The race is still on in my opinion

We’ve still got to play Arsenal twice. I still feel we can beat them. As good as they have been, they like to play football which could be beneficial to us, could be a more open game.

United beat them once already this season, no reason that game can’t end in a draw or defeat for Arsenal, we also saw Arsenal draw with Newcastle. So it’s not like they’re just going to breeze past any side. They have played two of the current top four and only taken 1 point in total.

still 20 games to go, 8 points can be dropped easily over that duration.

We obviously need to up our game, and that’s gonna be a challenge, but we are more than capable. I don’t necessarily think Arsenal are going to get much better. I think they are pretty much flat out at their peak right now, but that can easily drop in the next 20 games.

There’s no need to throw the towel in. If some of our players get their heads out of their arses and start playing again, there’s no reason we can’t hunt Arsenal down. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. We’re not even half way through yet. Even

If we beat Arsenal when we play the the first time, that could send some doubts into their minds and you could see the tide start to turn.
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i fully agree with you. Weve also seen frustration enter arteta and the players and fans when theyve played newcastle and southampton and united. when the pressures intensified and things arent going their way they begin to lose their heads a little.

It shows levels for me that despite our terrible form and arsenal playing at their peak were still on their coat tails. Same with the rags. Our worse form and their still isnt a huge gap points wise.

we do need our players to turn this form around and get they heads in game.
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
I can't see it doing any harm. He would certainly bring us closer to goal and earn us our fair share of free-kicks in dangerous positions.

I do think Kev needs to come out of the centre now, most of his best work these days is wide right and his crossing would come in to the box far quicker and from deeper too.

If we have two holders, there is more margin for risk.
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He's probably currently our most inform player.
 
We are probably going to need at least 50 points from the last 20 games.
Basically, we need to be as good as we have been at any time during pep's tenure.

It's doable but we will need to seriously improve.
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
Correct. Pep can fix it and he will.

Perhaps he will need to sacrifice total dominance of the ball or look for more balls over the top, but he will know exactly what the problem is.
Click to expand...

Agree with this. Our possession is too predictable and we play against massed defences. We almost need to find positions where we can willingly give the ball away in safe places in order to draw the opposition forward. We need to find a way to manufacture 3v3 situations instead of 9v9 ones.
 
Far too many “ifs”. Win the next two games and I will start to believe we can at least make it difficult for Arsenal or any other challenger ie the Var rags.

Big week ahead.
 
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