DEVIL ON OUR SHOULDER

Good afternoon Legion. 

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It's one of those Mondays where you could be feeling a whole lot better but could also be feeling a whole lot worse.

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Before we begin, we'd like to welcome new visitors to our Legion domain and inform them that we are a blog that takes a balanced view of various topics. We throw out both sides of the debate, argument, call it what you will, and let you, the reader, decide where you land.

 

We don't necessarily agree with one side or the other; we're more of a facilitator of information. We get a feel for where our fanbase is at and share it. Does it cost us Twitter followers/likes and website clicks? Probably, but it's a price we're willing to pay.

 

We originally titled the piece "The Tipping Point" as we feel, even though we're only five games in, after yesterday's lineup/result, we are reaching a tipping point with the fanbase and Arteta, and something has to give. 

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There's a ton to get through, so let's get right into it.

 

THE SANITY SPIN - THE CASE FOR CALM

 

1. Goals from Midfield 

 

One of the main talking points was the predictable continued inclusion of Merino as the 10 and the surprise inclusion of Trossard at LW. We were surprised and a little infuriated that Odegaard wasn't fit enough even for the bench. We've spoken enough on that subject; we're not wasting any more energy on it.

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There is a defence to the lineup Arteta went with. Bear with us.

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What is the one trait that both Merino and Trossard have in common? They both have an eye for a goal. Arteta figured it was going to be a game of fine margins, and with Gyokeres still not firing and Madueke not prolific, he needed goals from other sources.

 

Both Trossard and Merino are more than capable of nabbing a goal that might have proved the winner in a tight contest. To be fair to Arteta and Leo, we thought our Belgian put in a strong performance. Merino? Not so much.

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2. The Three DM's (Take One)

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We keep reading how we lined up with three defensive midfielders, and it got us thinking. How? Why are people thinking that? We all know Zubi is playing as the six, but to call Merino, a guy who just got four goals in two games for Spain, a DM is harsh. Are you also saying that Rice is now a DM too? For us, he is a box-to-box guy (ie, runs up and down a lot). We only played with one DM, not three.

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3. Work in Progress

 

We have two new signings in the spine of the team. We thought Zubimendi had a good first half, but Gyokeres still looks a work in progress, and that's being kind.

 

We have to figure out a way to get our main goalscoring threat up and running, and that's 100% on Arteta. In defence of all parties, it's made harder by Viktor missing pre-season. He still looks a yard off it. Don't think a lot of fans realise how hard it is to play catch-up with no preseason under your belt.

 

4. Early Doors

 

It's five league games, folks. Five. Yes, by the time Saturday evening comes around, we might be eight points down on Arnies lot, but strap on your big boy pants because it's a long season and there's still 99 points up for grabs. If you are calling the league over already, you need to have a word with yourself.

 

5. Managers Know

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Listening to the managers after match interviews was like being in a time-flipped parallel universe.

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Back when Arteta first took over, the theme was how much better City were than us, best team in the world, etc, and Pep would patronise us with his whole passive-aggressive stuff like "they are extremely well coached and know how to defend in numbers, they make it difficult with 10 men behind the ball"

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Did anyone watch yesterday's interviews? Pep admitting we are better than them, that we are one of the best teams in the world. He hated playing the way he did, but they got a better result than last season, and he was delighted with the point.

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Arteta? He said we were desperately disappointed not to win the game after being by far the better side. Enough said.

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Complete role reversals.

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6. Spoiled Brat Syndrome

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We touched on this in our Bilbao review. Is our fanbase acting like spoiled brats?

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Pep Guardiola, one of the best managers the Premier League has ever seen, with the scariest center-forward on the planet and a Ballon D'Or-winning talismanic Number Six, and they parked the bus and came away delighted with a point.

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Yet somehow this isn't enough? Our supporters all over Twitter last night, spouting vitriol at Arteta because we didn't win the game.

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From the 74th minute on, they were playing a 5-5-0 formation with all ten outfield players camped in their own box.

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The match finished with City having their lowest EVER possession stats under Pep in over 600 league games at 32.8%. Let that sink in. A manager and team that dominate games didn't even have 33% of the ball. Their second lowest was, oh yeah, against us too, with 36.5%. They had six touches inside our box in 97 minutes, folks. Six. For the record, we had thirty-nine.

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We battered them, but it still isn't good enough? Are we so far gone that a dominant draw against them is seen as a faliure? Would fans have accepted the starting eleven/performance if we'd sneaked a late winner?

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7. Short-Term Memory Syndrome

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Have we forgotten how far behind them we were? How big was the gulf? You're talking about the Grand Canyon. We didn't take as much as a single point off them in six years. Six fucking years, people!! Fast forward and now Arteta is the first Premier League manager to go five games undefeated in a row in the league against Pep.

 

We are so much better than them and so dominant that their manager chucked his entire footballing philosophy in the bin for 90 minutes because if he didn't, he knew there was a good chance of a repeat of the battering we handed them last season. 

 

If you don't see any of that as progress, then that's on you.

 

So now, in terms of fairness, the other side of the argument.

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THE DISSATISFIED DEBATE - THE CASE FOR CHANGE

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1. Safety First (Again)

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Trossard starting was a curveball. Of that there's no doubt. Yes, he scored against Bilbao, but so did Martinelli. We could understand changing Eze from the left to the ten, but dropping him altogether for Trossard and then doubling down and keeping Merino in the team reeked of safety first (again).

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2. The Three DM's (Take Two)

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Look, it doesn't matter what you call them or where they are on the formation. If they keep dropping deep to get the ball and rarely crossing the halfway line, then yeah, they are DM's. Rice was more of a double pivot with Zubi a lot of the time. We commented during the game on how many times Rice collected the ball deep from Raya. We thought that was Zubimendis' job? Yes, if we are struggling to beat the press, then drop deep and help out occasionally, but not constantly.

 

It meant that to affect the game at the top end of the pitch, he had to run the entire length of it to get there. No wonder that, already at this stage of the season, he looks frazzled.

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Merino was the same. Constantly receiving the ball deep in his own half and playing safe sideways and backwards, or losing possession. We felt sorry for him because that's not his game. He is too slow and flat-footed for it. He is all about runs into the box from deep, getting on the end of things. We don't remember that happening in the first half once.

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3. Insanity of Repitition

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The definition of insanity, they say, is repeating the same mistakes over and over, expecting different results.

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Wenger, in the middle to the end of his tenure, got accused of this a lot. Arteta seems to be following in his footsteps but without the money banked from winning trophies.

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He keeps picking the same players to play the same way.

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Anfield is a perfect example. Merino in the ten, Rice in the eight, but neither is looking to go forward and affect the game from an attacking sense. Liverpool and yesterday's game were both absolutely winnable, but Arteta's pragmatism meant we got one point out of six.

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It's not just the same lineups; it's the manner in which they are instructed to play. He has an obsession with "controlling the game," which means not losing rather than trying to win.

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He gave a prickly answer when questioned post-match about this, to which he replied, "No one was questioning the lineup in Bilbao."

 

That's not true if you read our review.

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4. The Need for Trust

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Is it a trust issue with Mikel? We have a back five that's up there with the absolute best in world football. Trust them. Trust them that with the help of the fire extinguisher, Zubimendi shielding in front, we will keep most opposition at bay.

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This would mean freeing up the other five best players available, playing in their best positions, to go and win games for us. It seems like a viable solution?

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5. Time On Our Side?

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Is time really running out on Arteta's reign? Manu Petit was interviewed pre-match and he was visibly frustrated to the point he was shouting "I don't want to hear it" "I don't want to hear excuses" "Mikel has everything in place to win the league now go and do it" "I'm sick of Arsenal not winning the league" He looked like he genuinely cared and has had enough. How much of the fanbase does he represent?

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To make this happen, for us to take the next step, Arteta needs to channel his inner Arsene and take ze handbrake off and at the same time dead the noise that is David Moyes whispering in his ear saying "Remember what I taught you. Don't lose the game."

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So there you have it. Both sides of an argument that's going to rage all season long. This isn't just a simple case of "Arteta in" or "Arteta out." It's a debate about the identity of the team and the path forward.

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Below, we have our Arsenal Legion Man of the Match.