Im seeing Xhaka celebrate on my other TV whilst we are down 2-0. It hurts.

The Different Knock: I have noticed that Trossard scores those matchwinning/important goals always when he comes of the bench, and never when he starts. It have happened somtimes this season, Martinelli starts a game, being substitued and Trossard scores the winner. Next game Trossard starts because he impressed last game, but doesent make an impact. But of the bench, he does. Weird

THANK YOU ALEX, you are talking about an Henry, De Bruyne, Salah type player that can bang a 30 yarder from nowhere or dribble past 3 players and score to break open a tight game. Seeing Madrid V City confirmed this for me, seeing the goals they scored cemented this in my mind. Gabriel Jesus at times looks like that player, until it comes to finishing. We are extremely functional as a team but lack that element, Saka and Odegaard are very close but not quite there. Maybe what we are referring to is, world class?

the villa game was one big OOF.

This is spot on. This is the one thing we lack. We need a player who can score when our system is not ticking, players are tired etc. We just need someone who can score out of nowhere. And its also very much how Arteta would analyse our team, and he might come up with another unexpected signing thia summer. However, where do we get a player like that? Well we are at stage 4 of our 5 stage plan... lets hope we make that step.

This sounds like the exact opposite problem Man United have. We are far too reliant on individual quality to produce moments that allow us to walk away with results.

Im so upset rn, but as I said in stream: I haven't supported the club during the banter covid era, the fa cup spam era just to give up when we face a single challenge, it's not over until its mathematically impossible to win the league

we certainly needed individual brilliance today

Arsenal lost: 😢 New TDK video: 🥳

Timing well with the point dropped

Shoutout to Villa, Only team that beat Us deservedly

Oleksandr Zinchenko is costing us bro. The alternating fullback does not work. I don't know why we keep playing this way.

I'm not upset for some reason after that loss to Villa. To think we are here after what we saw during lockdown is just insane to me. The social media warriors are just extremely ungrateful and are defo new supporters. If we don't pick anything up this season, we've got a young squad who will terrorise Europe these next years. We are back.

I do agree that Arsenal need players that can bail out the team when the coach's tactics have failed. When I think of Henry; I remember the solo goal against Real Madrid knock out stage. I just can't see any player in the current team that can produce a moment of brilliance.

On days like this i miss Sanchez....class act and able to just create goals out of solo skill

Beautiful video.. The Villa game perfectly summed up this video and why we need those "moments". Admire your analysis, which highlights the issues, but always brings hope, and makes us realize how far we have come.

I like these “proactive” videos made prior to a big game bcuz it’s not that emotional aspect of being reactive to a great win or a loss, like the one today. Well done.

Bro this video hits like a PROPHESY come true AFTER Aston villa games😭😭😭💔💔💔

You're so spot on. This was exactly my thought today when I was watching the villa game and Tielemans pulled of that screamer .....I thought to myself we don't have that here at Arsenal. It's just sad really. 😪 A player just with individual brilliance that wins you things. We don't have that. And we need those especially in the middle of the park.

As Alex was talking. I said one name. “Alexis Sanchez”. God I miss him😢

That individual brilliance is exactly what we needed against Villa, when we struggle to score or break down the mid block we need that player who will step up and win us the game single handedly. This needs to be addressed next season

This is bang on!! I think this is why we struggle in knockout football also. Where games are often decided in moments of brilliance. We have no issue scoring goals when we play well but we don't have a player who can score a goal out of nothing when we don't. This is why we struggle with the runs ins at the end of the season (chasing top 4 in 21/22, title run in 22/23 and this season although not over yet) where every game is high pressure and often cagey and decided in 'moments'. This is why I think we need a clinical striker in the summer to be that guy to provide these 'moments' when needed! I'd personally go for Isak but that may be an extremely hard deal to do. We also need a pacey winger and a passing left 8 who get link up with the winger. The left winger is always isolated when compared to our right hand side. We didn't have this issue last season with Xhaka (passing profile) at left 8. Plus another left sided defender like a Hato/Inácio so we don't have to watch Zinchenko at left back anymore. We are an amazing team but just lacking that one thing, until we get that I cant see us finishing ahead of this Pep city team. You have to be basically perfect to do so!!

We lost 0-2 against Villa. We need a Santi Cazorla, Alexis Sanchez. Someone special. Saka is alone. Everybody is too team oriented. I'm delighted with our progress but we must evolve now

that kieran clip... i died

Odegaard was unplayable in the first half but gassed out, nobody else was really showing that individual quality to create something out of nothing.

That Villa result yesterday was so painful. Guys, it hurts. Smith Rowe was supposed to take one for the team damn it, hug the attacker if you are not confident of your tackling, hold on to him till the end of the world, just don't let him score. Lets bounce back gunners, I still believe.

6:22 spot on, we needed to be bailed out today vs villa, but we lacked that individual. I feel we are too controlled such that when the control doesnt work like our 2nd half today, we are deflated

I think Øde has the technical capacity and talent to be that player, thats something I always think by myself.. His teenage clips, for me, shows that he can, but right now he’d become something else.😢

Exactly that. I was saying that to win the CL, you need both team discipline and individual brilliance in equal measure.

Arteta has improved the team,,,,,,,the question is can he win the big trophy available

Spot on! Just coming back from the game against Villa and was thinking the same thing, where is that player who is a constant, energetic threat? Where is the winger or forward who can produce individual magic? 🙄

We had Hutchinson in academy, but Arteta let him go. Alexis Sanches was our last matchwinner

THANK YOU AHHHH this has frustrated me for ages. Arteta's style is great, but sometimes in the box it's as if players look for a pass more often than a shot on goal. That hesitation is one of the major reasons we lost to Bayern. That slight hesitation is all they needed to get 3, 4 men in the defensive positions they need to block the shot. Any dedicated team who are committed to defence will shut us out, unless some genius one-touch link-up play, (often involving our captain) fulfils the quota of passes they want before taking a shot.

The reality of the situation is that we are not better than maybe the greatest premier league team ever with maybe the greatest coach ever. Thats it, that’s the reality. A combined city Arsenal XI could feasibly be all city players. Was it ever really reasonable to expect us to match their consistency over 38 games? Absolutely not

While this is a valid analysis - this highlights the stereotypical criticism made towards our playstyle - "thing is they always try to pass it in". The thing is that we have tried individual talent in the past (think prime Alexis Sanchez) - but we didn't have balance and flexibility between individual vs team effort. Same issue now- over reliant on team goals. Either we become more flexible in our playstyle, or we have to develop multiple forwards who are capable AND WILLING to take the shots Love to hear other's thoughts

Alex as always spot on and the fact this was made before the Villa game is a credit to his knowledge. I have been saying this for a while. We dont have any individual math winners.

What you said is 💯! We need a game changer someone who can change the state of the game single-handedly. Score a brilliant goal and do a brilliant play. Similar to Villa there are games when we are so good but we can’t make the cut to put the ball in back of the net. Same as West Ham game where we lost ! We need killers like how Madrid create 1/2 moments in the game where they easily win the match. Probably Rice has been the only one who changed matches for us like that more times(Luton, Man Utd, and few others) we need some individual brilliance over this team machinery. Another problem that I find is we rarely take good quality shots outside the box. We don’t find that Saka goal against Chelsea or other screamers. We are just depending on the system to create effective shots which can be converted to goals. And I don’t find it a good thing.

our rotations today were dreadful. why on earth did we switch our gameplan

I get what your saying Alex. While we have a superb team, we are more of an amazing unit and kind of lack a type of player who can consistently take the game by the scruff of the neck and produce a moment of brilliance when the amazing unit isn’t quite being so amazing. This isn’t the end all be all but can occasionally be the difference between getting 3 points or dropping points. For example we could be drawing with a team 0-0 in the 80th minute and a player of that profile could just go and get a goal out of nothing and put us in the lead. But since we don’t really have that, when the amazing unit isn’t quite being so amazing we run the risk of losing said game 2-0. (This example has nothing to do with any real life results 🙂)

Totally agree 💯

I agree completely and this was exactly what I was thinking in the dying moments of the Villa game. Saka and Odegaard are capable of these but I feel we're really not set up positionally and tactically for such moments, like say a 30 yard thunderbuster off the crossbar from anyone to win or salvage a dying game.

I agree with him man I feel like having studied Arsenals game we don’t have that player that changes the game that prime Neymar, Ronaldo, Messi, Mbappe like those players that don’t really need the team to score that why although I like Saka and do think he’s good I think he has more to offer when Trossard scored against Porto to tie it those are the moments we talk about the player that make a difference but they need to do it consistently something Trossard, Saka, and even Martinelli having scored the winner against City these players need to step up more

We needed it today

I think you are absolutely correct. We are very good in almost all situations that can be predicted but in that we have also become predictable as a result. I believe we have the ability but its stifled by the contol freakery that Mikel shows. That has got us to where we are but it 'scares' the players into making decisions for themselves.

1) Starting Trossard and Jesus, while rewarding their recent performance, simply disrupted the team's rhythm established with Martinelli and Jorginho. 2) Villa effectively shut down Arsenal's central play and Arteta's tactics seemingly lacked adjustments to exploit the flanks more effectively through. 3) Arteta's delay in reacting to Villa's tactics in the second half was even more critical. Waiting too long to make substitutions or adjust the game plan allowed Villa to maintain control and exploit any vulnerabilities that arose. 4) The substitutions themselves also deserve scrutiny, they did no have been what was needed to change the game. And identifying the right players to inject fresh energy and tactical adjustments could have been crucial. 5) Let alone the wastefulness of the forwards in the final third.

I think we need to bring Saka and martinelli more narrow, use Vieira when fit alongside martinelli and odegaard alongside Saka as they seem to have great chemistry, the knowledge and understanding etc like when salah and mane had firmino between them and they bang goals, they don’t stretch to the edge of the pitch, that’s what Robertson and TAA are for, and for us, what Tierney or Tavares could’ve been, and it’s a shame we’ve cast them aside because they offer a different dynamic which I think we sometimes need

Pft this has opened my eyes we need a bad boy

That's the thing with Arsenal, they always try and walk it in.

I am a Rangers man first and foremost but started to secondly take an interest in Arsenal in 2010 till present, love this channel amazing to listen to always great points 💙

This is so bang on. In games like yesterday when we don’t look like scoring in the second half at all, we don’t have a come of the hour player who can bang one in from outside the box. A goal from nothing. We need a sprinkling of SUPERSTARDOM.

Thank you. I had the same observation too. Arteta's team is too structured.. Which isn't a bad thing. However, we just don't see enough of solo plays which wreak havoc on defense.. Just organized on and off ball movement that created chances. Even during Wenger era post-Henry.. We had tons of individual players going ham on defense with the likes of Nasri, Arshavin, Sanchez. Even Fabregas (vs spurs) dribbled entire defense and Walcott (vs Newcastle) had their moments. The lack of killer instinct to just "kill" off the opponent is clearly seen during 1st half of last night match vs Villa. We are just lacking on that department to be truly be seen as the same level as Man City and Real Madrid - given how impressive we have been over the last couple of seasons.

We’re craving for a star player that we lack who has every attribute like speed, dribbling, shooting, free kicks, finishing etc. but there’s no one there at the moment.

I watched the Aston Villa game again yesterday because I logged off after we conceded the first goal during the match. For the first goal, Tomiyasu was nowhere to be found as the cross across the box came in from the right side. In fact, Havertz was the one trying to prevent that cross. Zinchenko was in the right side of the box instead of the left side picking up Bailey. Second goal: Both Saliba and Gabriel were pointing at the back instead of running back, and no one even tried to put much pressure on the Villa player who made the pass. It's a mentality thing. We're not winning anything with Mikel and these players.

You're so right on Martinelli. He might not stay next season or be in the first team selection anymore

This issue has bothered me this season. We dont have great individual moments. Its very worrying because individual moments are important to win trophies

I think we can see a lot of similarities in the philosophies that Arteta emphasises on with Peps own. For many years Pep had issues with integrating those front man game winner type players like Etoo, Zlatan, Aguero, etc and only untill recently have we seen him change in example of his signing of Haaland which helped him win the treble. And now we can see how much more he trusts in the quality of his team to win games by the creative freedom that allows players like grealish, de bruyne and even the boom of foden this season. . Personally we are doing very well and id say our main issues right now is still finding a proper left back to suit the team as zinchenko is a liability in defence which teams are evidently targetting and Kiwior still shows signs of nervousness in those big games like against bayern.

Non of the team has moments even, Raya has no super saves

The player your talking about that we’re missing is what alexis used to do for us just a player that’s unpredictable class

Zinni nearly had one today! We need to be patient, Michael Rosiak is looking like he will become a set piece monster. Nwaneri's goal against stoke also shows he has the wondermoment in free play. They need to be bedded in. but they are missing links.

Well done mate I have always said we don’t have a clear individual match winner except when they all perform and chip in we need a gundogon like city had clutch at the key moments .. good video btw ..

Totally agree with you

Another thing is on counter attacking, we have reduced on capitalising on that. The last time we made a good counter I think it's last season when Martineli's goal against Brighton got ruled out.

We need to go in hard on the summer transfer window. We have improved a good amount since last year (mainly defensively), but we still have got the quality in squad depth. We need a top ST, RW, CM(8) and possibly another CB. Gabriel and Saliba have been so, so good...but even they need rest. Same for Saka, Rice and Odegaard. They all can't be expected to play every game in a season. Again, big summer needed for incoming and outgoings.

Completely agree with you. The team needs an "unpredictable player that can pull some magic moments out of nothing." I think I've heard Arteta talking about that before but unfortunately, for games like the villa game, seems like he might have forgotten about his words. Watching the team trying the same system over, and over, and over again, with the same results gets a bit frustrating. But let's hope the system doesn't kill the individual inspiration on some talented players. Come on you gunners!!

Bayer Leverkusen play, at least this season, the balance of football I think Mikel wants to achieve. Their control is high, goals spread out, never give up but also have moments of individual brilliance.

That is very true I was telling my friend that arsenal needs a player who sometimes doesn't engage with team play at the goal. Most frontline players are playing like midfielders at the goal.

I said last season that what lost us the league was the lack of a character that can win games on his own, someone who when the system isn't working, can produce moments. In fact, I always referenced Sergio Ramos' last minute headers when the attackers couldn't get the ball past the line, I told friends if only we could get that kind of character...

I couldn’t agree with this POV more and have been thinking the same thing myself recently. We don’t have the X factor and instinctively it feels like we’ll need a moment of manic to ever get over the line. At least the first time. On Saka, to be fair he tends to score the first goal in a game e, which is arguably more important

I see what you mean. I think the last player we had that really could create something out of nothing was Alexis Sanchez. I've been thinking about players that could add this. This is why I like Isak a lot. Also Xavi Simons, Wirtz. Maybe Musiala or Dani Olmo. Simons created a lot of those kinda goals at RB Leipzig this season, but seems to struggle more when he's tasked with keeping possession more like for the Netherlands.

I would agree with you except I saw a video of the Arsenal training ground and Arteta was showing Rice around and there’s a picture wall just with big moments from the season ..I think with such young squad he wants them to get the fundamentals right and then at some stage he’s going to allow the individuality to come out

THIS! This is exactly what I have been thinking for AGES. If we don't do everything perfectly under Arteta we don't have those magic moments to get us the result IMO that all the best teams have

It’s like Nostradamus is an Arsenal fan!! An excellent analysis & essay. We needed this today. A soothing watch to a disappointing afternoon.

Arteta made even Xhaka stop shooting from distance.

alex, i’m from the villa game, we lost😔

I agree with you that we do need more individual brilliance moments. However, such moments often require confidence, character and skills of players. I do not doubt that our players are skillful enough, as you said, but most of them are still relatively young. My guess is that with the experience in big games growing, the maturity of this team will bring more of such moments naturally.

from my point of view I see martinelli is the guy, why? 1.when we talk about skills I think matinelli is the best in this area in the squad 2.we haven't seen enough of him but I think this year the system is not giving him even the chance (I think our system should change slightly to be more balanced in terms of field areas specially left wing position) 3. A clear indication that martinelli can do it is a thing that a lot of people have forgot which is martinelli's goal scoring last year which wouldn't be the same without him(martinelli scored 15 goals from a 9.15 xG and 9 assists from 6.98 xA ) what is happening this year is that martinelli scored 6 goals from a 5.3 xG and 5 assists from 4.7 xA which is why I think martinelli can't really express himself in the field

Arsenal fans are already calling for Arteta's sack after today's game, This fanbase isn't helping matters, "Ticket Holding" fans leaving with 8mins left 🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️

Thts totally true of we don't have individual players who can make a crazy difference

Horror of a result but was so happy with some players’ first have performance👏 we go again🙏

I watched Leverkusen and was amazed how everyone was shooting: left, right and center. We don't shoot. We keep passing..

We need leroy sane type player

I said this 3 years already why dont we score goals from freekick? The answer is simple bc we dont have that quality. Its not qyality we need all the time but when we need the most. I still remember during Wenger era we like have that 10 players with that individual quality but now not even 1.

Yeah... We honestly could've used a solo moment against Villa today. In those games where we are struggling to break teams down, those moments are sometimes needed if we want to get a result.

Had trossard scored that sitter today we would have won.

Also we haven't been scoring from set pieces like we were. That needs to be constantly updated because opponents become wise to it

We really did NEED that moment of genius yesterday 😢

Martinelli made a good run in the villa match but Rice didn't make the pass This is the issue we keep making sideways pass and not true pass

I thought we lacked energy. We didn't even pressure Martinez on the ball despite knowing he is not brilliant on the ball. Our press just was flat. The team also looks way nervous at home compared to away matches. Pray this translates to bayern away😅

The only times I’ve seen Arteta dismissive of a player after a sending off have been Pepe and Fabio Vieira. It was a tell for me, that Arteta was giving him a few chances to prove himself, and that sending off killed it in Arteta’s mind. Remember how Arteta was always protective of Xhaka’s sendings off, in comparison. I wouldn’t be surprised if Vieira goes this summer, keeping ESR, and getting a “moments” player for depth on the flanks.

Isak bro. Go get him

That's what happened yesterday. The build up was not giving, we had no one to put on a special moment

Mikel is NOT watching this. but I sincerely hope he does. You're not rude and always make great and valid points. It's actually understandable aha. keep up the good work

We need a player like Kvicha or Leao.

You hit the nail on the head, it's the sole reason why every rival don't rate our players.

Very true. When the game is hard the team gets predictable.

We used to rely on individual brilliance to win when we had Aubameyang and Ozilabye and Sanchez. We're clearly evolving

Watching arsenal reminds me how balanced the city team is. Arsenal play better football than city, but citys football gave them treble. Its a blend of team play and individual brilliance. Another thing is, arteta said at a press after beating liverpool that he doesnt like control the match teampo, he wants to attack. That very day i knew, there will be moments when arsenal will lose the control of the match and they will lose points. City, real madrid (3 peat) all controlled the game.

I'LL JUST SAY ONE THING IF MARTINELLI had the same support as SAKA..(WITH ODEGARD AND BW) ..he would be our top scorer.. (HAD THE BEST XG CONVERSION RATE AT ARSENAL..and top 3 in prem last season) - 1V1 our best player (he has just come back from an injury..that's why isn't getting proper game time) - has probably the most pace In our team ( outpaced konate and laid it on a plate for saka..who missed a sitter) And SINCE YOU ARE TALKING OF INDIVIDUAL BRILLIANCE.. i have seen him singlehadedly create MOST CHAOS AGAINST CITY AGAINST UTD AGAINST POOL AT EMIRATES..for us ...THIS SEASON (Another example was in the first match of the season itself.. Dude did a spinning - back heel ..beat 2 guys..and provided an assist)

In recent times, I haven't seen a goal from a free kick. We don't have free kick specialist.

pls post more videos more often lvoe ur vids