Arsenal v Leeds Utd Match Thread

[malcolmw]

We won't win on Saturday playing like that. We need to do the basics first and compete. If that means dropping a few favourites from last season, then so be it. We need to drop the sentiment.

Its not sentiment. It just not relishing things when we lose - like some seem to like to do - then hide under the moniker of being 'realists'.

We won't be playing Arsenal next week. We will be at home.
New week, new chance to do the basics and more. New chance to see more of the squad.

If you're a fan you have to take the bad with the good.

Why are the "realists" so quiet when we win and so loud when we lose?

[DDB220]

I've explained multiple times already:

Research Arsenal's set pieces since everyone knows they're strong at them
Don't try to play out from the back in the PL, it's suicidal
Don't play Piroe as a target man ffs, it never worked in the Championship, so why would it in the PL
Play your best players, not your favourites
Be more defensive away from home and play on the counter attack

Their set pieces were nothing special. Just poor defending on both occasions. You cannot play effectively on the counter without some pace and ball carriers in more areas of the pitch. James was poor today, but he isn’t match sharp for me.

Farke was never going to make wholesale changes for this game after a good start in our first game. We missed Amps, he is such a key player for us.

The reality is that Arsenal have real quality in all departments, losing that 2nd goal just before half-time was the killer. Terrible time to concede.
]

[White Lotus]

Hard to remember of the back of a 5-0 no show. Nil pointer is one thing, but never getting a look in is another. But it's the teams in the bottom half we need to be beating.

I maybe clutching at straws here but i prefer to look for truths/positives - On a different day Struijks bullet from a corner same as their goal from a corner finds the back of the net and it's us that go 1-0 up, their header from the same did just that, where was Arsenals marking on Struijk?

And yes i agree, we need to worry about beating the other teams that are on a par with us, not the likes of Liverpool etc, if that game was a barometer for Farke, then we are miles off for now.

[malcolmw]

I've explained multiple times already:

Research Arsenal's set pieces since everyone knows they're strong at them
Don't try to play out from the back in the PL, it's suicidal
Don't play Piroe as a target man ffs, it never worked in the Championship, so why would it in the PL
Play your best players, not your favourites
Be more defensive away from home and play on the counter attack

Absolute master of hindsight.

[YorkshireSquare]

Its not sentiment. It just not relishing things when we lose - like some seem to like to do - then hide under the moniker of being 'realists'.

We won't be playing Arsenal next week. We will be at home.
New week, new chance to do the basics and more. New chance to see more of the squad.

If you're a fan you have to take the bad with the good.

Why are the "realists" so quiet when we win and so loud when we lose?

I'm a realist in that I expect the gulf in quality between us and the top 6 to be too much.

But there was very little positive to take away from that today. We won't play Arsenal away from home every week but I feel like we didn't adapt to the task we faced.

[YorkshireSquare]

I maybe clutching at straws here but i prefer to look for truths/positives - On a different day Struijks bullet from a corner same as their goal from a corner finds the back of the net and it's us that go 1-0 up, their header from the same did just that, where was Arsenals marking on Struijk?

And yes i agree, we need to worry about beating the other teams that are on a par with us, not the likes of Liverpool etc, if that game was a barometer for Farke, then we are miles off for now.

The midfield worried me today, we were so dominant on Monday and so poor today. I just feel like Farke didn't adapt to the challenge in front of us at all.

[Johnsie123]

We were shocking today the front three ain't up to it James,piroe ,gnotto ain't strong enough or quick enough,piroe didn't get a touch in the opposition half.As other people have said we need to look at the teams in the bottom half and get positive results against them,still don't think DF is going to be here in Oct he has to use the new boys

[SG90]

Their set pieces were nothing special. Just poor defending on both occasions. You cannot play effectively on the counter without some pace and ball carriers in more areas of the pitch. James was poor today, but he isn’t match sharp for me.

Farke was never going to make wholesale changes for this game after a good start in our first game. We missed Amps, he is such a key player for us.

The reality is that Arsenal have real quality in all departments, losing that 2nd goal just before half-time was the killer. Terrible time to concede.
]

The issue is they'd created nothing until they scored from a corner, which was always going to be their main outlet. Rodon turning around screaming and shouting at others when he was at fault. Why did Bijol not start given we were likely to do a lot of defending? He was our best defender in pre season.

James is a player you bring on for 20 mins to run at tired defences. If the club/Farke see him as the main creator this season, then that is a huge worry/folly on their part.

That second goal came from trying to play out from the back. We saw Southampton and Ipswich concede goal after goal last year when they tried this. People moan about the likes of Moyes, Dyche etc being boring, but they're not stupid enough to try that.

I said after promotion we need to be set up to be hard to defeat, not playing suicidal like today. I couldn't care less about trying to play like Barcelona, as we won't stay up doing that.

[Carrick Dave]

I'm a realist in that I expect the gulf in quality between us and the top 6 to be too much.

But there was very little positive to take away from that today. We won't play Arsenal away from home every week but I feel like we didn't adapt to the task we faced.

I don't get this.

SG90 saying Farke should have picked the right players, not his favourites. Who? For whom, and how would they have made a difference?

How could we have adapted better to the task in your opinion?

We're all hurting, but realistically we had no chance against the gulf in money spent player by player.

We need to pick our battles.

[malcolmw]

I'm a realist in that I expect the gulf in quality between us and the top 6 to be too much.

But there was very little positive to take away from that today. We won't play Arsenal away from home every week but I feel like we didn't adapt to the task we faced.

So a learning then, no???
Maybe as a result we'll be better when we're away to Liverpool or Man City. We stepped into the abyss today. We knew there'd be tough weeks - but no idea how tough. Now we know.
That's also being a realist, no?

I agree we played crap .... from 25 minutes on. To Weasel's point, a few small changes and we'd have had a different game on our hands. A reflex save from their keeper from Pascals header is best example.

So there was a positive - up to that point we were well in the game. That header goes in and who knows....
Its a game of fractions and moments.
This one wasn't for us.

Move on and bounce back.

That's also being a realist!

[Victor_OTT_17]

Missed the second half as I was doing my first ever Walmart shop! Walmart is brilliant. Looks like we were p155 poor second half. Welcome to The Premiership

[whiteinfrance]

Sky still talking about Arsenal!

[DDB220]

The midfield worried me today, we were so dominant on Monday and so poor today. I just feel like Farke didn't adapt to the challenge in front of us at all.

You can only play with what you have. They are levels above us, we have far too many players who struggle with a coordinated and effective press. When Arsenal stood off us in the first half an hour we looked threatening on occasion. Albeit Why DJ was just lashing the ball at goal rather than trying to take on his man and drive towards the byeline was poor on his part.

This was a huge step up and an eye opener for a lot of players, they will hopefully be better for the experience.

[YorkshireSquare]

I don't get this.

SG90 saying Farke should have picked the right players, not his favourites. Who? For whom, and how would they have made a difference?

How could we have adapted better to the task in your opinion?

We're all hurting, but realistically we had no chance against the gulf in money spent player by player.

We need to pick our battles.

Pick our battles, precisely.

I love Tanaka but today I would have gone with the experience, and slightly more conservative approach of Longstaff, especially with Ampadu missing. We needed more control in midfield, gave the ball away too much. We've got a guy there with 171 Premier League appearances under his belt, use him.

[SG90]

Absolute master of hindsight.

Most of those are pretty obvious or things that have previously failed

[malcolmw]

Sorry, can't see it like that.

I might have enjoyed it had we given a decent account of ourself, but we didn't. Not at all.

Sure, each to their own. That's why we all spend our time on this forum.

[malcolmw]

Most of those are pretty obvious or things that have previously failed

I smell

[YorkshireSquare]

So there was a positive - up to that point we were well in the game. That header goes in and who knows....
Its a game of fractions and moments.
This one wasn't for us.

I agree, if that header goes in things may be different.

But we weren't well in the game before then.

[SG90]

Sky still talking about Arsenal!

Well they did win 5-0

[YorkshireSquare]

You can only play with what you have. They are levels above us, we have far too many players who struggle with a coordinated and effective press. When Arsenal stood off us in the first half an hour we looked threatening on occasion. Albeit Why DJ was just lashing the ball at goal rather than trying to take on his man and drive towards the byeline was poor on his part.

This was a huge step up and an eye opener for a lot of players, they will hopefully be better for the experience.

We can only play with what we have, but arguably we started with our most experienced Premier League player on the banch.

But despite them being far better than us, and I knew they would be, we were disapointing when we had the ball. Gave it away too much, even when not under pressure, made poor descisions in attack and defended poorly for most of the goals.