Gyokeres ‘like a pensioner’ as one Arsenal outcast proves ‘why Arteta does not start him’
It is starting to become clear why some ‘people seem to think Saka don’t pass to Gyokeres’. One unfancied Arsenal star did nothing to convince Mikel Arteta.
We also have mails on Manchester United DNA and Liam Rosenior’s best mate.
Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com.
Arsenal in Europe
We seem to play well and I think this is due to teams not playing deep, like in Premium league.
A good match versus Inter, few players I need to mention, Masquera, a very good player, played well. Jesus, lead the line nicely. Was not impressed with Eze and I see why Arteta does not start him. Merino is better off away from our goals, he loses alot of balls with his tricks.
I am now starting to see why alot of people seem to think Saka don’t pass to Gyokeres. He had a chance to square and he did not.
A very good goal by Gyokeres.
On to the next one.
Lwazi, Cape Town
Jinx
“Gyokeres need not play against Inter on Wednesday. Arsenal are three points clear at the top of the table. If anything, the Swede looks as though he could do with a night off to sulk, scream into the night or however else he exhibits his utter misery.”
Lol. Seems the only striker who needs the night off to exhibit is utter misery is the one whose name starts with an H and ends with a D.
Damola AFC Berlin
A lovely image
Gyokeres is like a pensioner. Feed him early or things get stodgy.
Niallo, Gooner, Uibh Fháilí
Humble pie
Following my recent mail saying that Gabriel Jesus was hopeless and should be nowhere near the team, I was of course joking.
His 2 goals against Inter show that as I always knew, he’s brilliant.
I also may have said something negative about Gyokeres…
Stu – apologies to both of them, for now – Gooner in France
READ MORE: Champions League prize money table calculated as Arsenal leapfrog Liverpool again
Why does Arteta stick with him then?
Keith slightly missed the point of my mail but his mail was not the usual rubbish we get on this topic so happy to reply.
Mikel Merino at Centre Forward last season – 12 starts, 6 goals, 3 assists. Hes not far off those numbers this season. This was an experiment out of necessity but nobody can say it didnt work, it turned out Merinos technical ability was strong enough to play no9 and he could finish with his foot and his head. He probably wouldnt be able to, but if you continue that form over a whole season thats about 20 goals and 10 assists. The striker Arsenal have needed so desperately, is apparently in our squad.
To the naked eye, Gyokeres isnt doing it. Hes not scoring goals, he doesnt seem to be pressing, he isnt assisting. He doesnt seem to be offering anything to the team. He even appears to be hindering it. I feel the same way to be honest, I think hes not the striker we desperately need.
(MC – this was sent before the Inter game so be nice)
And yet. And yet. Arteta has an option on the bench he knows can perform at no9 but Arteta isnt even trying it when Gyokeres is fit. Merino hasn’t been injured, hes not been starting in midfield. So my theory is Arteta is seeing something, in his stats, his tactics, his data, im not sure what, that means he keeps starting him. I dont buy into it that Arteta would willingly and knowingly play a player that isnt making a difference. This is a man that has come second a couple of times in a row. Do we think he is starting Gyokeres out of empathy? Contract terms?
So im not saying I think Gyokeres is amazing. What im saying is he must be doing what Arteta is asking him to do well enough/fine to keep starting. And at this point I trust Arteta and his team enough to know what hes doing.
Rob A (none of the summers big striker signings are exactly flying) AFC
Arsenal bottling it
Teams that have collected more points in their last two league games than Arsenal:
Man United – 15 points behind Arsenal;
Chelsea – 16 points behind;
Brentford – 17 points behind;
Newcastle – 17 points behind;
Sunderland – 17 points behind;
Everton – 18 points behind;
Fulham – 19 points behind;
Bournemouth – 23 points behind;
Leeds – 25 points behind;
Nottingham Forest – 28 points behind;
West Ham – 33 points behind.
How’s it go? It’s easy to win the league when all the significant teams around you are shite.
Much love,
Wik, Pretoria (Oh Sadio, we miss you so), LFC
Confidence, not tradition
United played a blinder on the weekend in a thoroughly deserved win. One does wonder what these same players were doing, given the effort they put in compared to the previous weeks. Perhaps Amorim had ground them down a bit. But OMG, yet more DNA drivel immediately ensued.
I had written about DNA earlier, but the letter wasn’t published. I had said that North American sports’ idea of a ‘dynasty’—when a team wins several ‘championships’ over a defined period (ice hockey’s New York Islanders and Edmonton Oilers, for example)—is probably a more apt description than DNA. The idea that there is some constant set of values, principles, styles, etc, that runs deep through the veins of players and coaches once they join a club is trite, ludicrous and frankly boring.
But the idea that Carrick, after one game (this time around) embodied the soul of Busby to somehow overcome a completely misfiring City – currently losing 3-0 to European Giants Bodo Glimt as I write this – is bonkers.
The hopelessly romantic Ken Legend 🙂 did romanticise a list of prior United managers, simplifying it all as fast, direct play leveraging youngsters. Yes, this was definitely true of Matt Busby and his ‘babes’ as well as Fergie’s ‘Class of 92’, but not really the rest. It ignored Wilf McGuiness’s drudge and only McIlroy as a young player who broke through. Frank O’Farrell, with perhaps Brian Greenhof, Sexton, who was more defensively minded, bought Wilkins and Birtles. Moyes, Van Gaal, and Mourinho were hardly swashbuckling and youthful. And while Docherty and Atkinson could be said to be more direct and use academy players, their trophy haul was minimal. Wasn’t the DNA also about how this won things? To support the dynasty idea, just look at the trophies won during these time bands:
– Matt Busby 1945-1969: 5 League, 2 FA Cup, 1 European Cup
– Interrregnum (5 Managers): 3 FA Cups
– Alex Ferguson 1986-2013: 13 League, 5 FA Cups, 4 League Cups, 1 CL, 1 Europa, 1 Intercontinental, 1 World Club
– Post Ferguson (8 Managers): 1 FA Cup, 2 League Cup, 1 Europa
The reality is that, as teams like Liverpool are showing, confidence plays a huge role in winning, drawing/losing. How much should I make that lung-bursting run into space with confidence, a ball may come my way, versus the defence/midfield circling back to retain control and slow the whole attack down? Should I make the through-the-line pass, expecting my teammate to be thinking ahead and getting into space, or waste the ball? Liverpool created many mediocre chances but also wasted so many opportunities to play earlier balls. Then got sloppy and let a goal in. In contrast, United played with a lot of confidence by making great runs into space and behind City. Put in huge amounts of effort. Truly, the minimum expected of an EPL team these days is that you get in trouble. But also made runs for each other all over the place. And how much of that energy reflected the mid-January exhaustion of teams that have played twice a week all season, against a team that has played far less and has a new manager to impress? These are all the things that made the difference here, plus Carrick playing round pegs, not DNA.
But also, as we see more often in European competitions, the top teams go at each other with confidence in their ability to score, as far fewer games – at least in the group stages (and when Mourinho isn’t managing) – see teams playing a low block.
As others have mentioned, Carrick will be measured in those latter games.
Paul McDevitt
It’s the hope…
I really hope this result from Bodo v Man City helps Man Utd fans calm down a mite…(Of course I am hammered)
Paddy G, Mombasa, MUFC
Rosenior: not a plonker
Quick one RE. Liam Rosenior. This is interesting to me as an example of how media shapes perception. Here, F365 described rooting for Rosenior, even though you wouldn’t want to go for a pint with him. People all over the internet are lambasting him as an unholy mashup of David Brent and Jake Humphrey. I even found myself thinking that – but here’s the thing. I know, for a fact, that he’s not a berk. He’s a friend of one of my best mates – they went to school together – and so I know he happens to be sound af. Take from that what you will.
But to paraphrase the great man – ‘They want a scapegoat, they want to dumb down, they want to give ’em the biggest plonker of the year…..he’s not a plonker.’
Ben (still hate Chelsea though so, sorry L-dog, but I hope it goes tits and fast)
Football poetry
One of yesterday’s mailbox correspondents referred to football as poetry. It’s a comparison that’s not uncommon. Feats of skill are often complimented as poetry or poetry in motion etc. etc.
That’s a bit odd isn’t it? That high praise is given by comparing the feat to something that the vast majority of the population have sod all regard far? Or maybe it’s just me? Do other mailbox readers relax at home after a hard days work sipping a single malt in the armchair by the fire composing sonnets and reading Chaucer?
You’re not going to get 50,000+ into a football stadium for a poetry recital that’s for sure.
Conor Malone, (Someday the entire mailbox will be published in iambic pentameter) Donegal.
Top Trumps
Can we get Infantino to create a FIFA Super Peace prize? Orange man has clearly forgotten about the last one.
Simon S, NUFC, Cheshire
Alternative World Cup
I must say I am enjoying the idea of an alternative World Cup in the event of Trump being Trump. This summer’s tournament will be a bloated fiasco, but the ungodly BST kick-off times will at least make it easier to sleep through.
I would love UEFA and CONMEBOL to unite (because the world champions always have and likely always will be from Europe and South America. Apologies to Africa, Asia, and Oceania, but you’re just not strong enough) and host their own unofficial Copa Del Mondo, if only for this summer, with a view to breaking away from the fundamentally corrupt FIFA.
54 UEFA members + 10 CONMEBOL members = 64 team FA Cup-style draw, like the 3rd round stage. No seeding. No qualifiers. Straight knock-out tournament and see what happens.
Obviously, Russia and Belarus are blacklisted over their involvement in Ukraine and Israel can do one, too, for their sins. This would leave two free spaces and we should invite Mexico and Canada to take part, because FIFA has well and truly pooped their party.
Who wouldn’t want to watch an England v Argentina first round, winner-takes-all clash-of-the-titans? Or see a rank outsider like Armenia reach the semi-finals with a couple of favourable draws? Every game would matter. All killer, no filler. Play each round alternately in Mexico and Canada and hold the final at the Azteca. Ecuador v Haaland-powered Norway. MAKE IT HAPPEN! (I know it won’t, but still)
Lee, ideas man
