KingArthur

I didn't see the whole game, was Bruno that bad?

Seriously, what is Wilson doing at the end there? Huge 3 points close, so take it to the corner flag ffs.

Their defending is horrible. If we dont trash them at SJP then I don't know when. So fragile.

Rogers is such a lovely player.

Aye you seem like nice bloke.

We might disagree with the meaning of mediocre. I would say we are 6-8th best squad if you look first XI. Then if you look at the bench, we are quite weak. Lot to do if we want to challenge for UCL every season.

And we played them away. So totally different. Seems like we cannot agree on this topic, so I see no point to continue this conversation.

Well, at the moment we have 1 striker and 1 that is maybe fit. 2 wingers, which one of them, as much as I like Murphy, really is not top team standard as a starter. Our goalkeepers are mediocre with clear weaknesses. And true, our midfield is good, but again with clear weaknesses and total lack of depth. Huge drop when you have to bring someone from the bench. We have 2 decent CBs, with one of them returning from major injury and the other one aging. Young fullbacks whose best years are in the future. I would say our team is quite mediocre and especially it is very thin. We are Isak injury away from total disaster. Even if we get 2-3 good signings this summer, we will still not be top4 favourites next season.

"People need to stop trying to make excuses, that performance was as bad as it gets" So this is a fact, not an opinion?

Maybe so, no need to be ass anyway. I just have a different opinion than you. You have pointed stuff out, and my opinion is that the stuff you pointed out was bs.

Well, it is. Like I said, 1-2 players would get to that City team. Not even sure about that. It's not a top 5 squad by any means, but we may again end up in top 5. Which would be huge success from Howe.

It is, especially compared to teams like Man City. Howe has done wonders with that squad.

I am not saying the performance was good. I am saying that people's expectations with Howe are ridiculous. We have a mediocre team, that he has managed to drag to 2 Cup Finals and to Champions league. Our squad is a lot worse than City's and maybe we should have given them a more of game, but that does not change the fact that City beat most mediocre teams at home comfortably. This forum is full of knee jerk reactions. 1 win and we are going to UCL, 1 loss and Howe is out of his depth.

They lost to Man Utd after 2 fluke goals at the end. Other one was gift from Nunes and other a long punt that was misjudged. That is what we need also. Luck.

To be honest, I am pretty sure Howe didn't execute anything at Highbury... Of course weaker team usually sits back and tries to hit on the counter. But City attack vs Arsenal attack with huge injuries? Come on man. City can keep the ball and recycle possession and push the other team back. Newcastle don't have legs to press that for 90 minutes, maybe not even 45. And with boring I mean they can keep a spare man at the back and overload the middle. If you think pressing that system, they had Stones-Khusanov-Ederson at the back. That requires 2-3 guys pressing them (Isak and Gordon + maybe Bruno). Lewis came inside so in the middle there was Willock-Bruno-Tonali vs Gundogan, Lewis, Gonzales and Foden. They overloaded the middle and pushed us back. 5 at the back used by Howe has worked against some teams, like Spurs. But dropping so deep means when we win the ball there are 60-70 metres to opposition goal. It is damn hard. We usually try to won the ball at midfield. Just don't think Willock is a right one for that and our midfield was overloaded anyway. Only thing I am saying is, even when we are playing well in the league, we need luck to win these teams away. It's just not "oh we just didn't show up". Our team is worse than City's, by a lot.

True, they have been a lot worse than when they won the treble. Still they are a lot better team than we are. Howe has been saying in every interview after we have played City, that their style is so difficult to play against. I would say they are the real bogey team, cause we don't seem to play well against them. Our pressing and intensity just doesn't work with that. Yea, Joelinton or Bruno can bully Gundogan and knock him off the ball, but doesn't matter if you don't even get close to him. How many our players would go to that City lineup? I would say 1-2 and that is being generous.

He might have got the team set up wrong, but the fact that some teams some time can hurt City playing in a certain way, doesn't mean it is easy to execute everytime. Individual performances of course was not there, but there is also a huge gulf between the quality of teams. Everytime Isak got the ball it seemed there were 2 players around him. Murphy is a decent player but against top defenders? Not enough. Gordon has not been as good as last season. And all this is irrelevant, when City play like they did on Saturday. It was like one of Pep's boring Barca teams, with endless possession and safety first attitude. If we had tried to press with the same intensity as we usually do, they would have kept the ball and finished us off at the end when we would have no legs left. City have Ederson and 2 CB's at the back, meaning if you press them , you usually leave Ederson free, who can launch it with pinpoint accuracy up top, like we have seen That then leaves Trippier or Burn or whoever 1v1 with their forward and lots of space. If you want to press the GK also, then someone has to step up. Schär tried this few times, but City do it so well that when they play past our press there is huge spaces rightaway. So you end up in your own half. Howe will not be happy how his tactics worked, but we were huge underdogs in any case. This was not the City with Gundogan or Bernardo Silva as no 6 and Matheus Nunes at Rb.

Yea, against smaller teams we have managed to get back. This season, Forest, Spurs and ManU were good away performances. Against Wolves we were lucky and don't think other performances have been good at all.. Last year Villa was the only top team we won away. Howe has not sorted that out at all.

We have been decent away when we score first. When he go behind, seems like it's over.

I think we tried at the beginning. Schär was following quite high, but leaving Burn 1v1 against Marmoush or Haaland? No way. That is suicide. City overloaded the midfield to kill our press. Lewis went to midfield to there was always an out ball and they were happy to play 3v3 against our front three. We were playing 5v3 or 4v3 against theirs...

I think BDB is a great defender and good choice to have in the team. Just that there is a reason why Botman is much needed back.. But today we didn't loose because of one player of course. Was just stating an opinion.

Might be, but that does not mean he is good on the ball. He is awful with it. But I like the man. They are very good in possession and we can't get anywhere near them. Marmoush brings pace and Savinho trickery. We weren't at the races today. Would have needed the first goal. No point bringing Wilson on and leaving Isak there.

He can play in a very limited role. If you look him, he only passes the ball with his left, and 95% of his passes are to Hall. He can defend, but is horrible under pressure. It really affects the play when opposition lets us have the ball.

Burn is so shit on the ball, that England (or Scotland) is the only country in the world where he can be a professional footballer.

The problem with Pep's system against Howe is, that there are so much space between the lines, exactly where Marmoush and Foden play. Or KDB. We have always been in trouble with City's passing and they always find space. I don't know if Howe has answers for this. He has against some teams.