We were second best by a mile today. There's no denying it. But despite the empty seats and the terrible online player ratings, I was heartened by what I saw today. A mostly young squad put plenty of energy and belief into trying to play decent football. Sadly, the Emery era seems to have stripped us of our identity and our defensive organization. Freddie can't fix that. But he has infused the players with some confidence. These are good players, though obviously we have some weak links across the back line, partly due to injury.
Start with Leno. He was fantastic today. I wouldn't trade him for anyone. Everyone in front of him will look better when they are managed better, even the aforementioned weak links. What team wouldn't want Martinelli or Saka in their setup? They're certain stars. Pepe has enormous talent, and Auba has been one of the league's top scorers since he joined the EPL. We were on the attack a good part of the time, but City was always back in good order. That's training and instruction. Our mids showed a lot of individual talent and often combined well, but when we didn't have the ball they seemed unsure how to close City down. That's training and instruction.
I could bitch about Kolasinac and Chambers today, but I like them as players and they're being exposed because the team has been poorly coached. No one reads this so I can say without fear of contradiction that if Wenger had these players we'd have quite a few more points this season. We needed someone who would get more out of the team, and we ended up getting someone who got less. It's all on the Kroenkes.
I hope Arsenal keeps pushing. Yeah, we're mid-table and we're going to stay there, but we're getting our Arsenal back. Freddie's right that Arsenal is killing us by not supplying a coaching staff for him. He's not the guy who can restore our former glory--I wonder if anyone can given the owner--but he's got the right idea about how we should play.
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