-You can basically dismiss the Mbeumo and Akgun goals as very early, low-percentage sucker-blows. They're the equivalent of a UFC fighter walking into a perfect punch and being dropped by it in the opening seconds and then recovering to either win or lose a competitive fight. They don't fit the narrative of the others.
-You can also dismiss the Gabriel goal I think. Arsenal defended brilliantly in that game, wasted time and stalled it out and we had a rusty Solanke. The timing of the goal also doesn't fit the overall narrative.
The others, then, come down to the big issue we've got right now which is a lack of a real leader in the squad. Someone to calm things if we let in an equaliser (eg the Leicester and Brighton games), someone to maybe slow stuff down and let us reset or hit an opponent hard in a clean way in one of those dirty physical games (eg Palace, Arsenal, Ipswich) but also someone to ensure the other players don't switch off or get lackadaisical in a match that we're dominating possession wise but don't have anything to show for it.
Notice for instance, we tend to score our goals - in the games we've won - in wild blitzes where the opposition can't handle our attacks. To me that's a sign of a side who, once they get their tails up, are almost impossible to stop.
When we can't score, on the other hand, or the opposition begin to frustrate us, we either lose our heads a bit (like after Vardy's equaliser) or get overconfident in possession and end up making silly errors like switching off and ball-watching, or losing the man at the back post, etc.
It comes from the youth of the side unfortunately and with the supposed wage cap I don't think we will be bringing in any older experienced heads any time soon. So we really need the older guys like Romero, Bentancur and Bissouma to step up and take control of things, otherwise I think we're in for a rollercoaster season in general.
I'm not sure the answer, but I watched the Szmodics goal over and over yesterday as it caused some discussion in my group chat. The entire sequence started because Son failed to win a tackle, followed by a failure to cover the cross after Udogie and Dragusin have to come out of position to cover for the missed tackle. Son makes little effort to close down the outlet for the cross, he could have easily disrupted the cross.
Do you think we need to get the number of the pickpocket Arteta used?
My personal feelings around this issue...
-You can basically dismiss the Mbeumo and Akgun goals as very early, low-percentage sucker-blows. They're the equivalent of a UFC fighter walking into a perfect punch and being dropped by it in the opening seconds and then recovering to either win or lose a competitive fight. They don't fit the narrative of the others.
-You can also dismiss the Gabriel goal I think. Arsenal defended brilliantly in that game, wasted time and stalled it out and we had a rusty Solanke. The timing of the goal also doesn't fit the overall narrative.
The others, then, come down to the big issue we've got right now which is a lack of a real leader in the squad. Someone to calm things if we let in an equaliser (eg the Leicester and Brighton games), someone to maybe slow stuff down and let us reset or hit an opponent hard in a clean way in one of those dirty physical games (eg Palace, Arsenal, Ipswich) but also someone to ensure the other players don't switch off or get lackadaisical in a match that we're dominating possession wise but don't have anything to show for it.
Notice for instance, we tend to score our goals - in the games we've won - in wild blitzes where the opposition can't handle our attacks. To me that's a sign of a side who, once they get their tails up, are almost impossible to stop.
When we can't score, on the other hand, or the opposition begin to frustrate us, we either lose our heads a bit (like after Vardy's equaliser) or get overconfident in possession and end up making silly errors like switching off and ball-watching, or losing the man at the back post, etc.
It comes from the youth of the side unfortunately and with the supposed wage cap I don't think we will be bringing in any older experienced heads any time soon. So we really need the older guys like Romero, Bentancur and Bissouma to step up and take control of things, otherwise I think we're in for a rollercoaster season in general.
I'm not sure the answer, but I watched the Szmodics goal over and over yesterday as it caused some discussion in my group chat. The entire sequence started because Son failed to win a tackle, followed by a failure to cover the cross after Udogie and Dragusin have to come out of position to cover for the missed tackle. Son makes little effort to close down the outlet for the cross, he could have easily disrupted the cross.