Arsenal Football Club

[froehlix]

 

Macht derzeit keinen Spaß 

[Jay Gooner]

TIA schrieb am 3.2.2021 um 06:11 :

ich habe mein gesamtes Fußballleben als DM und IV gespielt und könnte mich nicht einmal annähernd an eine Schwalbe erinnern. Aber gut, auch das weißt anscheinend besser.

dann schick mir deine Adresse und wir probieren aus bei welchen Körperkontakten man umfällt und bei welchen nicht, Prinzessin. vllt checkst dus dann. Außerdem glaub ich dir clown sowieso goa nix.

 

Mo (den ich tatsächlich schätze) sagt eh genau dasselbe was ich hier schon gesagt hab: Luiz hätt ihn laufen und schießen lassen sollen. Weil solche oder so ähnliche Szenen als Elfmeter gepfiffen werden. Wie genug andere Fehlentscheidungen gepfiffen werden die zu Elfern führen.

Man kann den Elfer pfeifen, muss aber nicht. Von einem "100%igen Foul" zu sprechen ist hochgradig lächerlich. Wer behauptet, es gibt eine Regel, die besagt dass diese Art von Kontakt ein Foul ist, ist ahnungslos (und ja, das sind generell sehr sehr viele Fußballfans und auch Spieler und pundits da draußen. Trotzdem gab es genug die sagen, kein Foul). Es liegt im Ermessen des Schiris den Sachverhalt zu interpretieren ob irgendwas hiervon vorliegt, Regel 12 der Fußballregeln:

Ein Spieler verursacht einen direkt Freistoß für das gegnerische Team, wenn er eines der nachfolgend aufgeführten sieben Vergehen nach Einschätzung des Schiedsrichters fahrlässig, rücksichtslos oder mit unverhältnismäßigem Körpereinsatz begeht:

• einen Gegner tritt oder versucht, ihn zu treten,
• einem Gegner das Bein stellt oder es versucht, [das würd ich entscheiden war zB bei Bednarek eindeutig der Fall, bei Luiz eindeutig nicht]
• einen Gegner anspringt,
• einen Gegner rempelt,
• einen Gegner schlägt oder versucht, ihn zu schlagen,
• einen Gegner stößt,
• einen Gegner bedrängt.

 

Ich seh hier nichts davon gegeben [nachdem ich mir die Wiederholungen angeschaut hab - ich gebe ja zu im ersten Moment dacht ich auch es is Foul. Natürlich v.a. auch weil es sich ausgerechnet um Luiz gehandelt hat], und würd das als Schiri nicht pfeifen, nachdem ich das VAR sehe. Ich glaube nicht eine Sekunde dass dieser Hauch von einer Berührung, in dieser Beinstellung von Jose den Stürmer davon abhält, seinen Schuss abzugeben, geschweige denn gerade weiterzulaufen. Vielleicht einen Halbbehinderten am Wiesenkick, aber nicht einen Profiathleten mit diesem durchtrainierten Bewegungsapparat. 

 

Und dass es in weiterer Folge eine Schwalbe ist, der Stürmer sich hinhaut und nicht wegen dem Kontakt auf seiner Ferse umfällt, steht sowieso völlig außer Frage. Wer das in der Wiederholung nicht sieht ist blind oder will es einfach nicht sehen.

 

bearbeitet 6. Februar 2021 von Jay Gooner

[Jay Gooner]

Spiel heute nicht gesehen, aber den highlights nach zu urteilen hättma uns da eh nicht unbedingt nen Punkt verdient. Die Lacazette Szene oben natürlich aber schon sehr lustig.

[Danilo Kunhar]

Jay Gooner schrieb vor 30 Minuten:

dann schick mir deine Adresse und wir probieren aus bei welchen Körperkontakten man umfällt und bei welchen nicht, Prinzessin. vllt checkst dus dann. Außerdem glaub ich dir clown sowieso goa nix.

 

Zum schämen...

[froehlix]

Jay Gooner schrieb vor 21 Minuten:

Spiel heute nicht gesehen, aber den highlights nach zu urteilen hättma uns da eh nicht unbedingt nen Punkt verdient. Die Lacazette Szene oben natürlich aber schon sehr lustig.

So schlimm wars nicht einmal find ich. Wenn man ab Minute 1 wegen einem deppaten Fehler dem Spiel hinterherrennt wirds aber immer schwierig sein

 

[Jay Gooner]

froehlix schrieb vor 6 Stunden:

Macht derzeit keinen Spaß 

va Partey schon wieder verletzt?  

das is schon wieder sehr arsy

[froehlix]

Jay Gooner schrieb vor 8 Stunden:

va Partey schon wieder verletzt?  

das is schon wieder sehr arsy

Für Atletico hat er onsgesamt 6 Spiele verletzungsbedingt verpasst, für uns jetzt schon 10 

Hoffentlich nicht so schlimm dieses Mal

[Jay Gooner]

2 Athletic artikel für euch von hinter der paywall

 

What does Mikel Arteta want from a centre-forward?

Spoiler

Mikel Arteta has a conundrum at centre-forward. The problem is not, as you might first think, choosing between Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette. The problem is that neither of them appears to be quite what Arsenal’s manager wants.

In this defeat against Aston Villa, Arteta started with Lacazette, then swapped him out for the club captain after 59 minutes. “It’s been a really difficult decision, as you imagine,” the manager explained before the game. “I felt the players that played against Wolves deserved another chance today.”

But is this really about faith in one striker, or is it rather a lack of conviction in either? Lacazette has not been starting of late because Arteta suddenly sees him as the right fit for his plans. He’s been starting because he does the most passable impression of the kind of centre-forward this Arsenal manager really desires.

Lacazette’s role in this team is as a fulcrum, a focal point. He links the play and drops deep, creating space for the likes of Bukayo Saka and Nicolas Pepe to run in behind. He works hard off the ball, closing down the opposition and pressing from the front. He is, first and foremost, a facilitator.

You can’t fault his commitment. He battles bravely — and he has to, because he is fighting to be something he’s not. Arteta would surely rather Lacazette was six inches taller, a step quicker, and that his touch was slightly more sure. When Arsenal broke clear in the first half, Lacazette had a fantastic opportunity to play in one of Pepe or Saka but failed to pick the right pass to slice the opposition open. That’s no great surprise: it has never been his strength. He is not a target man, and not a creator. Lacazette is like someone trying to keep hold of a lover, pleading against plausibility: “I can change!”

Then there’s Aubameyang. For the vast majority of Arteta’s reign, he has played from the left — a clear indication that he is not Arteta’s centre-forward of choice. There is surely a way to play with Aubameyang as a free-running, penalty-box striker. As the player ages, it makes sense to reduce the space in which he’s asked to operate, as Leicester have with Jamie Vardy.

In June last year, Vardy told The Athletic how Brendan Rodgers had helped him adapt his game. “The gaffer has helped me a lot,” Vardy explained. “He’s got me playing slightly differently. The main part is pressing-wise. Yeah, he wants me to press but it’s silly trying to press a whole back four and just wasting energy. I should press when we know we’ve got a chance of winning the ball. Before, I’d have probably sprinted from right-back to left-back and back across again, which is just burning energy up for no reason.

“It’s about keeping that energy and that mindset so you’re ready to (he clicks his fingers) fully go 100 per cent when you know that there is a chance to win the ball, rather than trying to do that when there is a 10 per cent chance of winning the ball.”

Arsenal could potentially use Aubameyang in that kind of fashion if they were prepared to liberate him from the responsibilities Lacazette has to shoulder. At the moment, Arteta seems to regard deploying that sort of striker as a tactical luxury Arsenal cannot afford.

Perhaps that is partly informed by the dip in Aubameyang’s form this season. Nineteen Premier League starts have yielded just five goals. There has been an improvement in his performances of late, but his lack of productivity presents a problem: if he doesn’t score, Aubameyang doesn’t offer much else. Playing him from the flanks enables Arteta to squeeze in Lacazette — certainly more of a jack of all trades — but it also means leaving out a creative player in the wide areas.

During Unai Emery’s time as Arsenal manager, he believed the best way to use Aubameyang and Lacazette was in tandem — that playing them as a strike partnership offset their respective weaknesses. The closest Arteta has come to that has been deploying Lacazette as a No 10 behind the captain — once again, asking the Frenchman to be somebody else. To play a true front two would be a major departure for Arteta, and appears unlikely.

If Aubameyang is not the man Arteta wants as his spearhead, it begs a big question: why sign him to a lucrative three-year contract? As for Lacazette, Arsenal are yet to open renewal talks on a deal that expires in 2022. That at least shows a recognition that he is not the ideal fit or the man for the future. The issue with Aubameyang and Lacazette is not one of quality, it is one of type. Arteta has a habit of using the word “specificity” to discuss positional requirements, and it feels as if there’s something very specific he wants from a centre-forward that neither of these two quite offers.

Perhaps Arteta will have cast envious eyes at this weekend’s opposition. Not for the first time this season, match-winner Ollie Watkins ran Arsenal ragged.

Watkins played for half an hour more than Lacazette, but even taking that into account, the difference between the two performances was stark. Watkins made five ball recoveries to Lacazette’s zero; he won nine duels to Lacazette’s one, seven of those coming in the air. Arsenal were crying out for some aerial presence, having reverted to some of their old tricks in this game, playing 35 crosses (25 from open play).

It wasn’t just the physical aspects that separated Watkins and Lacazette — the Villa forward managed four shots on goal, three of which were on target. Lacazette’s hour did not produce a single shot. Opta pointed out that across Arsenal’s two meetings with Villa this season, Watkins managed as many shots on target as the entire Arsenal team put together.

Perhaps Watkins doesn’t quite have the glamorous name or international pedigree Arsenal fans might hope for in a new centre-forward. He doesn’t have the star billing of an Aubameyang or Lacazette. This was, however, a perfect example of the kind of all-round, all-action display Arteta seems to demand.

Curiously the striker on Arsenal’s books who might most fit the bill, Gabriel Martinelli, did not make it off the bench in this game. Instead, Arteta went once again for Willian, hoping against hope to summon a spark of life in the elder Brazilian. Martinelli has not played a minute since being withdrawn at half-time in the 0-0 draw with Manchester United, his transgression unclear. It has been some time now since we last saw him used as a centre-forward.

This striker situation is, at least, coming to a head. Come the summer, both Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah will have 12 months left on their contracts — a decision on their futures must surely be imminent. At this stage, it’s possible to imagine both leaving. Arteta seems to know what he wants from a centre-forward — and it’s not something he currently has. A striker could well be at the top of Arteta’s shopping list come the summer.

 

Saliba didn’t sound like someone seeking excuses – Arsenal mustn’t give up on him

Spoiler

Arsenal appear set to enter the summer transfer window looking for a promising right-sided centre-half.

Before they make a significant outlay in a difficult economic climate, though, they would do well to remember they already have one.

On the field, William Saliba is excelling in his loan spell with Nice, having been named the club’s Player of the Month in his first few weeks back in the French top flight. After six months without first-team football, it is a considerable relief to him just to be playing again.

Nevertheless, his story continues to make headlines off the pitch.

Little has gone right for Saliba since he came over from France last summer to join up with Arsenal. At times it has felt as if this transfer has been cursed.

The latest storm revolves around comments made to French broadcaster RMC Sport, in which Saliba expressed his disappointment at being judged by Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta for his performances in “two and a half friendly games”. The same station now reports that Saliba will be the subject of a French Football Federation investigation into an explicit leaked video from three years ago, involving him and several team-mates.

None of this will have gone down well at Arsenal. However, the controversy that continues to swirl around Saliba should not be allowed to obscure his talent. It is not long ago that he was regarded as one of Europe’s brightest prospects — this is the boy who marked 15 and 16-year olds out of games when he was just 13, who was a Ligue 1 regular for Saint-Etienne by 18. With six weeks still left in his teens, Saliba once again looks precisely what he appeared to be when Arsenal first signed him — one of the finest young defenders in France.

The latest quotes to make their way over the channel have irritated some Arsenal fans, who see his comments as damaging. It is, of course, the nature of social media to extract the juiciest quotes and amplify them. It’s worth remembering also that at 19, navigating interviews can still be something of a professional minefield.

Place the quotes in the appropriate context, however, and they don’t feel quite so inflammatory.

Saliba has conducted several interviews since returning to France last month — his arrival at Nice was one of the highest-profile deals of the winter window in his homeland — and some provide a fuller picture of his assessment of his situation.

“Several things went wrong,” he explained to Telefoot regarding what happened with Arsenal, who had signed him in summer 2019 then loaned him back to Saint-Etienne for last season. “The first is that in 2019-20, Ligue 1 finished early (the season stopped in March and did not resume, because of the pandemic), I was at home in isolation, barely running a kilometre. I didn’t have physical fitness.

“After I went back to Saint-Etienne, knowing that I could play the French Cup final a few weeks later. After two or three weeks, I couldn’t train with them as I did not know if I was going to play the final. The clubs were failing to find an agreement.

“Finally, in the end I went to Arsenal, but as they were finishing the Premier League, I trained on my own. A week and a half later, they went on holiday, so I was training on my own for another two weeks. They came back. There were two or three friendly matches — well, training alone does not replace matches… I played two and a half friendly games, I was physically knocked out, I was not up to speed.

“I thought the coach (Arteta) was going to make me continue so that I find my rhythm. He said I wasn’t ready, which is normal — after six months staying at home during the lockdown and then playing, I couldn’t be ready and I needed to continue to work. After, the coach said I wasn’t ready — it’s like that, it’s football.”

“C’est football”. It’s a phrase Saliba repeats several times in the 12-minute interview. It shows that he can be philosophical about how things have panned out.

It’s interesting, also, to consider the elements of this saga he has omitted. He does not mention the injury problems he suffered during 2019-20, nor a personal tragedy he endured last year. He does not cite the fact Arsenal who left him out of the Europa League squad, and who failed to complete the necessary paperwork to secure him a loan move in the summer transfer window.

He does not sound like a player looking for excuses, nor one in a hurry to blame others.

Some have said Saliba is suffering for choosing to leave France too early, but it’s a suggestion he denies, citing the example of fellow Saint-Etienne defender Wesley Fofana’s impact since joining Leicester early this season. If anything, he feels he would have been better served by joining Arsenal immediately after they bought him.

As Arsenal battled Tottenham to sign Saliba, conversations with then-head coach Unai Emery helped persuade the player to choose the red half of north London. Emery and head of football Raul Sanllehi played an instrumental role in laying out the development path for the player. The coach, of course, did not survive long enough in the job to greet him the following summer — and Sanllehi’s departure followed within weeks of his arrival. Saliba has also felt the absence of Matteo Guendouzi — the pair knew each other from France age-group squads, and had spoken about the prospect of being united at Arsenal before the defender’s move being made official.

 

Arsenal spent €30 million to acquire Saliba from Saint-Etienne in 2019 (Photo: Alan Walter/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

In December 2019, with Arsenal looking for a new centre-half to sign in the looming January transfer window, Saliba was aware of conversations with Saint-Etienne about the possibility of cutting his loan short so he could join up six months early. Even at that early stage, newly-appointed Arteta was not convinced, however — he preferred a left-footed central defender, and one with considerably more experience. The club ended up signing 26-year-old Pablo Mari, who had just helped Brazilian club Flamengo win the Copa Libertadores.

The subsequent addition of Gabriel in the summer means the left side of Arsenal’s central defence is, most likely, sorted. At right centre-back, a new contract for Rob Holding suggests he will be part of Arteta’s plans moving forward. There is one spot remaining. With David Luiz heading towards the end of his deal, by which time he’ll be 34, and the futures of Calum Chambers and Konstantinos Mavropanos far from certain, there is room in the squad for another right-sided centre-half.

Saliba is not the recalcitrant troublemaker some recent headlines have implied — but nor does he sound like someone in a hurry to mend fences with Arteta and Arsenal. This, however, is a relationship the club should fight to repair. When it comes to that remaining defensive spot, Saliba ought to be in pole position.

Arsenal spent €30 million to acquire Saliba. Were he to leave this summer, what would they receive in exchange? As well as he is playing for Nice, the chances of getting their money back appear slim. And if they turn elsewhere, can they realistically sign a better prospect?

The club have committed substantial resources to Saliba, and should be doing all they can to ensure he develops well.

In theory, this is where the role of a technical director is so useful: these are the people who focus on squad building in the medium to long term. Ordinarily, in that structure, a technical director would have the authority to explain that Arsenal had made a substantial investment in Saliba, and that it was the coach’s responsibility to make it work.

At Arsenal, that hierarchy is not so clear — especially since Arteta’s promotion from coach to “manager”. At the moment it feels a case of what Arteta wants, Arteta gets. Which may not bode particularly well for Saliba.

Hopefully, Edu can knock some heads together and iron all this out. Arsenal are a squad in transition, they will have a huge amount of work to undertake come the off-season. Recalling Saliba would fill a spot in the squad swiftly and relatively cheaply. Edu may well know as much — perhaps it is significant that when Saliba moved to Nice, Arsenal’s official statement included a quote from the technical director: “We’re confident he will have a great career with us but we must remember that he is still only 19 years old and has a lot of time ahead of him.” There was no accompanying quote from Arteta.

“I would never have imagined that it would have happened like this,” Saliba admitted to Telefoot. “There are times when it is very difficult but it is necessary to keep working and not give up. Football is in the mind, nothing is certain, there will be periods like that — but above all, don’t give up.”

He’s right. And nor should Arsenal give up on Saliba. Hopefully, any indiscretions will be viewed through the prism of his youth. Some, frankly, seem irrelevant: Arsenal bought Saliba for what he might become in the future, not for who he was three years ago. There is still time to make this work.

Saliba’s focus must be on continuing his good form for Nice. He has put his side of the story across, now he should simply continue to let his performances do the talking.

Who knows, perhaps we’ll one day look back at all this as the making of him.

 

bearbeitet 10. Februar 2021 von Jay Gooner

[themanwhowasntthere]

und wieder luiz 

[dialsquare]

So ein scheiß, wird heute nix 

[themanwhowasntthere]

dialsquare schrieb vor 12 Minuten:

So ein scheiß, wird heute nix 

du hast doch hoffentlich nicht wirklich etwas anderes erwartet?

partey statt ceballos und man kassiert wohl max. 1 tor

bearbeitet 25. Februar 2021 von themanwhowasntthere

[themanwhowasntthere]

scheiss auf die, wieder einmal komplett sinnlose aufstellung plus wechsel:

saka love 

[dialsquare]

Man muss nur schimpfen

[Jay Gooner]

ez

[Jay Gooner]

themanwhowasntthere schrieb vor 15 Stunden:

partey statt ceballos und man kassiert wohl max. 1 tor

Hoffe echt Ceballos in der Startaufstellung ist damit fürs erste geschichte. Arteta noch so am Tag vorm spiel "Partey is fit and available". Ok cool. Mir ist ein halbkaputter Partey lieber als ein fitter Ceballos aber war eh nur quasi ein Finalspiel 

Ich wär so haaß falls die auf die idee kommen sollten ihn im Sommer zu kaufen.