19 Aug 2018 06:31:26
When the fixtures were announced it was obvious that we had two of the most difficult matches to kick off the season. From next week our season begins in earnest and we need o secure a win at home to West Ham who also have lost their opening two matches.
What concerned me yesterday was how inept our team was defensively, with so many players that are absolutely clueless. In particular on our right flank, where Bellerin and Mkhitaryan have no idea of how to defend or tackle and quite frankly I believe never will. I would like to see us bring in Lichtsteiner to replace dire Bellerin and we somehow need to plug the defensive gaps left on either flank left by the wide players, particularly against the top teams, who exploit any weaknesses. In the next window we need to replace Bellerin and we need to sort out the problem of having too many wide players that can't defend. Before yesterday's match I commented that we have too many luxury players and we need to sort out who to keep and who to replace from; Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Iwobi, etc.

1.) 19 Aug 2018
19 Aug 2018 10:12:42
It's difficult to see where we are going defensively because we look every bit as vulnerable at the back as ever.
But on the plus side I can't remember the last time we went to Chelsea and created so many clear cut goal scoring opportunities.
Dispite looking largely disorganised the work rate was noticeably far higher than for many many seasons from almost every player yesterday and Mustafi despite not playing well yesterday showed more effort than I've seen from him in 2 seasons and although i am probably in a minority of 1 but I thought Hector Belerin was very good going forward yesterday too although like the rest of the defence he looked lost at filling the job description of defender.
Guendouzi reminds me of a young Cesc simply because he doesn't look good for his age he just plain and simply looks every inch a premier player.

It's not easy to see where Dick is taking us just yet but hopefully with the very welcome increased work rate we might have a much better idea come October time.

2.) 19 Aug 2018
19 Aug 2018 11:10:06
Ozil to me doesn't look like a starter. Perhaps he should come on as a substitute when we need some bit of magic. So in my opinion we should play Mkhitaryan behind Auba and Laca and put Nelson on the RW as he can help the RB defensively. Midfield paring should be Guendouzi + Torreira / El Neny. Ramsey can replace Mkhitaryan as a starter depending on the game. I can't afford to have Guen kid on the bench as he offers a lot. Then we can start playing Nketiah as an impact sub for either Auba or Laca. Mavropanos should replace Mustafi as he likes going to ground whenever he is tackling. Litchsteiner should start the next game so should Leno.

3.) 19 Aug 2018
19 Aug 2018 11:50:51
On another day you could have won that match but your finishing was woeful.

Ozil is a disgrace to your club. I can’t remember a Premiership player with such a poor attitude and work rate.

Although, his slow walk of the pitch when he was eventually subbed was funny.

Hope you have a good season lads.