A comfortable 5-1 home win against Sunderland who came to play rather than to win. Some slick dribbling, passing and scoring. It was a fun game and we were punished when we dropped our level a bit…What did we learn from this game?
- Eddie is our go-to striker in Cup ties
- Pepe can do really well against lower opposition but he is paid to do that well against the big boys…
- Leno will concede goals
- Cedric and Tavares are good going forward but really need to sharpen things up defensively
- Xhaka can shore things up in our midfield at times
- Odegaard finding his feet at AFC
- Patino can feature in our team at times and Balogun needs more exposure to first-team games (a loan in the EPL would be beneficial, maybe even in the Championship…)
A lot to ponder for Arteta:
- What do we do with Auba now? Martinelli, ESR, Saka, Eddie, Martin are scoring and Laca seems to be leading ably…
- What do we do with Eddie now? AFC and Arteta clearly stated they want him to stay but it s up to Eddie to decide what he wants to do. Would he rather go to Newcastle (or similar_ like Willock for more playing time or does he try to fight for his spot at AFC?
- Holding can be our CB in the rotation so we have 3 secured CBs for next year already: Gabs, White, Holding. Who will be the 4th and eventual 5th: Chambs? Mari? Saliba? Mavropanos? Other?
Anyways…AMN nor Lokonga featured. Does anybody know why? Covid-19?
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Thanks for taking the time to put something up there RC. The problem I am having is that I am starting to agree with most of what you say but I will have a go at being an argumentative bar-steward.
The Auba thing is already solved. The timing of his enforced gardening leave is perfect for Arteta as the AFCON will occupy him for a good while and when he is there he will have time to realise that he is not going to swan back into the Arsenal team when he returns; rather, he will start to realise that if he wants another contract — anywhere — he is going to have to start taking what he is doing seriously and putting in a shift when he gets the chance to play again for Arsenal — which he inevitably will.
In short, he is not going to Barcelona or Juventus, we are stuck with him and his hefty wages until the end of his contract but Arteta and Edu have turned the tables, and with his AFCON absence and the inevitable time on the bench (see Ozil and Pepe) then he will start to need us rather than us needing him. The upshot of that is that we will get better performances out of him once again.
Pepe’s season in stats so far:
-> EPL: 5 starts + 3 matches coming on as a sub: 1 assist
-> ELC: 3 starts: 2 goals, 4 assists
-> TOTAL = 8 starts + 3 entrances as a sub: 2 goals, 5 assists
Great in the ELC, below average in the EPL…Has Pepe been a “super starter” in Cups and a a sub-player in the EPL since he has joined us?
Pepe had 16 goals and 5 assists across all competitions last year including 10 EPL goals and 1 EPL assist…
So next rounds do we play our first team regardless of opponents
I think Eddie has earned the right to start at CF for the next round
Yea it seems to ne his competition