The opening gambit - taking the F out of Arse

[Bazly]

Rarely do I wake up at 4am because I'm miffed about a football game but I was annoyed, not with the result as losing at Arsenal is not novel but because there were glaring tactical errors in defence that cost us points. The flanks were laid bare throughout the game and in one Arse attack there were 3 red shirts clustered inside our box where Fuchs should have been, all alone. Fortunately when the ball came to them there were too many of them and they fluffed the opening. It was all because Maguire was on a licence to roam which is all well and good until you are backs to the wall defending, no point filling out with 5 in midfield when only Ndidi shows any tenacity to tackle and then leaving three at the back and flanks exposed because Maguire has gone away on tour. Shakes should have told Maguire to stay put at 2-3 and covered the flanks with Fuchs and Simpson.

 

Then the subs, well not very inspired. I cannot believe that Morgan is still in the starting 11 and I worry that Shakes will struggle to plug the defensive shambles. We look terrified in defence, probably because Morgan is poor these days and the midfield does nothing to stop the forward runs of opponents. Lets hope Iborra can bring some steel to the midfield.

 

Still in spite of everything a much better opener than it could have been. When you consider a couple of weeks ago we were getting beaten easily by Burton and Wolves. Shakes is looking like he needs to see the problems and develop plan B's otherwise we will ship goals in just about every game we venture out..