🔍Arsenal OOP vs Villa🔎 Watching back I didn't recognize my team. It was a basketball game, and we don't do basketball games. We're usually so good out of possession, but our man marking was unexplainably bad, and even our work rate was lacking. Tired?

Just shows tielemans ability to always read spaces perfectly. So underrated

@CfcSteff I suppose we have to give him credit, but this was really uncharacteristic from Arsenal. We don't give away space like that.

This is more down to the excellence of Villa and emery being the better tactician.

Absolutely. We looked out of energy. I have never seen Rice as cooked as that game. Same for Zubi. They were getting in behind them and the fullbacks too much for my liking. Selections cost us imo. Merino should have been on the bench and came on as a sub.

Tired legs & tired minds perhaps. But I don't think we'll see many similar performances out of possession.

@antenehafc Villa were tired too… this is all down to coaching and preparation. Emery knew where the spaces would be and we exploited it.

@kimmoFC I didn't say we were tired as a team. I specifically mentioned Zubimendi and Rice because they started their 5th consecutive game in 14 days. Arteta didn't rotate enough which is where you got your joy from.

@kimmoFC I forgot to mention Merino too. He was the same. 5th game in a row. And we had to play Bayern, Spurs, Chelsea and Brentford in that run, all very difficult games.

Horrible

Eberechi Eze, hincapie, and White literally cost us this game honestly. Wrong positioning from Piero almost all the time. Ben White literally couldn’t replicate that performance against Brentford. And Eze underplayed, we all know he could have done far better

We run 4km more than Villa so work rate wasn't the issue. It was a combination of - experimental formation, unfamiliar CB pairing, poor coordination in midfield and Villa stretching the game at will because we lacked pace on the counter until Martinelli came on. etc etc

cant blame it on being tired we literally have the same schedule

Shell shocked? Outplayed? Beaten by a better team?

I was thinking the same thing. No real control, stints of possession etc. We rushed it forward many times. Lost the ball so much and got caught out causing dangers situations. It was very un-Arsenal like under Arteta.

how could we be more tired than aston villa, who had rotated less in the last few games? I think it's more down to attitude. This isn't the first top 4 game this season where the opponent had a better attitude. Chelsea another

You can look at it in a number of ways mate. This is an example of what Emery is focusing on. And something Villa have become very good at. And are only getting better at. And that is to creating these spaces. Exploiting these spaces.... All clubs have weaknesses. Football is a lot about the ability to taking advantage of them. If they are getting tired? IF so thats not a good look. That would be very worrying. When they have the same tough schedule than Villa. And after spending NET £300M more than Villa this summer, should be able to have WAY more depth.

yh honestly we didn’t look like ourselves at all

The Villa midfield read the spaces better than we did. I think the Rice and Zubimendi need some rest in as much as they are trying their best their legs and minds show they really need to be rested. This was really unlike us

Odegaard is a liability in the 10 role . Man kept occupying Zubimendi spaces.

Any credit to Villa perhaps?

we played the same amount of game's, mentioning tired like we wasn't too 😂 we had a 8 hour trip there and back to Brighton when you played Brentford at home 👀 the answer you are looking for is we are a very good team and met your match and lost, stop searching for excuses.

Yes tired. I hope Arteta gives Raya, Rice, Zubimendi, Merino, Saka, Eze, Timber and calafiori an appropriate rest and rotate the team in the champions league so that they can come back full of energy Vs Wolves & rebuild our momentum.

i noticed this In game too. they kept finding spaces in the pockets

This is not the Arteta’s Arsenal that we know. We totally lost control of the game in all phases, which doesn’t happen. Zubimendi and Rice need proper rest. They look really exhausted but still try to fight for the team. I believe we won’t see such a performance again this season

100% wiped. Many chances crated but couldn’t close it.

Du kan see på det på flere måter. Dette er et eksempel på hva Emery har fokus på. Og noe Villa har blitt gode på. Og blir bare bedre. Og skape disse rommene. Og utnytte disse rommene.

Ja, meningen var ikke å ta noe bort fra Villa. Men dette var veldig utypisk Arsenal uten ball. Det var mitt fokus.

It's almost like that wasn't Arsenal,surely it must be tired mentally minds

Yes, mentally and physically tired the last week. It started showing in the Chelsea game, got more evedent Vs brentford. It just gets worse when Rice and Zubi have to compensate for the shaky CB partnership. So we loose the midfield battle with no fresh legs in there

Tiredness, absolutely. Why are we tired, possibly management and rotation…injuries are not helping. We should have enough defensive cover really and with Kai and Jesus back, Merino has to get minutes in midfield as good as he’s been up top. Norgaard…that’s a concern.

Ngl, we missed Big Gabi and Willo massively. People underestimate their influence in duels. Many of these clips start just seconds after a Villa goal kick or long ball I’m not saying Hincapié and Timber were poor, but they just don't offer that same level of dominance at CB.

yes. i think tiredness played a part. hard to play 3 games in 10 days an not feel it. i hope we rest players midweek.

Odegaard was only good in possession, out of possession he was disgraceful. Many times he jogged while players ran past him. Eze too didn't have a clue what he was doing. Zubimendi and Rice didn't get their positioning right first half and we're being played through with ease.

Credit to the Villa. Sometimes a team is just on 🔥🔥

Made peace with the fact that we'll come 2nd again this season. City are the likely winners The signs are already there. The team has become too fatigued and the injuries have piled in. Pretty sure we'd be running on fumes by the end of February

Odegaard fresh yet he was the slowest one to press, done it half heaterdly

or villa were daring and brave committing players forward to gain territory, the players may be tired but you've got to admit villa were brave with their game plan and executed it well. the reality is our dominance is tied to winning duels and since saliba and GB we lack dat

Player's way to tired but Ø needs to add goals to his game

This is more about the ability of Villas midfield than Arsenals performance. We can even do this to PSG

Or villa were just better than you

We played a back four who haven’t played together before so probably its understandable We need the back four back asap