It nearly worked just now, they got out and then the ball went into Watkins, back to Rogers and his pass nearly set Diaby away. If it does work then Diaby is clear on goal but it does seem pretty low percentage.
We are trying to get in behind their press. It’s been a hallmark of the team since Unai took over as manager. As the half progressed it became more obvious what their triggers have been (a lot of it has been one man running at whoever has the ball for us then two running at whoever passes to while a fourth guy stays spare) and I guess the theory is that if we do get in then we’ve taken half their outfield out of the game. It’s not working brilliantly, we’ve been pushed right back so there’s still a lot to do even if the passing is accurate.
If it’s as good as the one on FourFourTwo then I’d be amazed.
It breaks down every to what Arsenal were (probably) thinking ahead of kick off, how it nearly worked at what Villa did to deal with it.
Might have been one of the players who got called for a random drugs test. He got called for one on Thursday too but as that was a UEFA competition I don’t think it has any bearing on whether he’d get chosen for a Premier League one. Or he could have gone to do post game media. Or needed a poo. Basically it could have been anything so I don’t even know why I’m trying this response.
A mixture of other sides being in Europe too and domestic cups. If you go deep in the EFL Cup or FA Cup or are due to play a side who have gone deep in those competitions (Spurs game in hand on us is against Chelsea who they should have played on EFL Cup final weekend) then finding a gap in the calendar to play it can be tricky.
Sitting behind the bench and the story of the night has been a full on 30 minute argument between Unai and Ollie. I have no idea what it was about but Unai was going nuts. Definitely gonna be having words at half time.