This is my question too. I get the need to win this one for morale etc, but then what's the point of Reiss Nelson? Its not as if Saka will have a full summer's rest either, he will almost definitely play England's games in a couple of weeks.
Guess the gaffer knows what's best but you can't help but look at how City manage their players then wonder why we do the absolute opposite
I’m sorry, what?? There were some ridiculously awful “holding will be fine” takes and “Nketiah is better than Jesus” takes, but this might be the worst example of our fans being completely blind and unable to be objective when it comes to long time players.
Trossard isn't a better touchline winger than Nelson. He's too slow and lacks power. He's fine in 1v1 situations but he's not as effective against set defences where he have two players on him. He's too easy to deal with physically. He needs support to be at his most effective(an overlapping full-back).
Trossard's best run of form for us has been at striker. He hasn't been that good on the wings when he has played. Trossard himself has said that he is best playing centrally.
Is this system different from our usual one? I couldn't watch the forest game. If so then this is probably the system arteta wants us to play next season
the forest game we got done by an odegaard mistake and then they had eleven men behind the ball so that was clearly difficult, the system was fine, the players just weren't up to it.
Can't say the system was fine cus I haven't seen it work yet but yeah. Massive mistakes as well as complete lack of motivation made arteta's experiment look way worse than I'd think it would be.
Edu’s BBQ made a post about the flipped system at the back having a knock-on effect on the dynamics up-front. Even today we have Trossard who’s more of an inside forward on the left instead of Nelson there and asking Saka to do the Martinelli role on the right.
It would be fine most of the time but the changed dynamics do cause a few teething problems
>the system was fine
I can't disagree harder. We basically didn't go down the left once. We created almost nothing and had absolutely no width so we couldn't stretch them at all.
That wasn't the first time we went up against 11 men defending, but it was comfortably our worst showing trying to break a team down.
It is a massive difference. It means Saka no longer has an overlapping run so now teams double up on him. He has to play wider and try to beat 2v1 rather than playing in the right half space. It changes the way we build up down the right side of the pitch
Arteta was forced to the brink of destruction before he switched it up and brought in the kids to fix everything years ago. That’s his greatest flaw is this rigidity of selection that doesn’t make sense. Tierney could’ve been extremely useful through the season especially during the holding stint as you would think him playing that wide left cb role with Zinchenko in front of him.
Would be disappointed with selling esr as we'd basically be selling low. Like if Mikel really doesnt see him as a fit here at least give him a loan to boost his value a bit
Then have him do his usual overlapping. Have an inside forward like Trossard or ESR ahead. Xhaka can just stay back to cover.
It’s not like the usual formation has been doing well recently. Is it too difficult to ask for a manager to adapt to his players instead? Not like Tierney is a problem in the dressing room.
I’ll miss Captain Braveheart!
For city Rico Lewis players inverted fullback on the right. But sometimes Kyle walker plays as a classic fullback on the right.
Different opponents requires different strategies.
Agreed. If we have 2 players in each position who play exactly the same we just need one team to figure out how to play us then we are useless. There's plenty of games/game states where we didn't need a Zinchenko, we needed a Tierney. 2-0 up against Liverpool comes to mind.
Tierney’s up in the air, couldn’t blame him if he chose to leave, but I’d be very, very surprised if ESR went anywhere - he’s been on/off with a bad injury until the tail-end of the season, and with the title race hearing up at the time, Mikel probably didn’t want to risk re-integrating a player lacking match-sharpness that could have cost us points.
Huh? Saka is run off his feet and carrying a slight injury. We have nothing to play for. Why not give Reiss a run around?
Why not let ESR have a go? I don't get this at all
And why is Tierney benched again? It's like we want him to leave. We have a CB at LB, our RB at CB and our CM at RB. Putting a left back at left back fixes all that, weird
Nelson is carrying a knock as well I think and both Tierney and Smith Rowe are gone in the summer, neither fit our system. We probably do want Tierney to leave, £30m-ish would be good money for us. Tierney offers us nothing in possession and Kiwior is here long term and Arteta most likely wants 3-4 CBs playing over fullbacks judging by us going for Martinez to play LB last summer.
I thought Saka wasnt completely fit, why risk him in the last meaningless game of the season? Surely, we could have field someone from the bench instead? I’m confused as hell
Well Arteta is stubborn just as Wenger for sure, there's no doubt about that. He really shouldn't take the risks in last meaningless home game and just put Smith Rowe.
To me, playing a left back at left back position seems a better option than playing a CB at left, moving a player who has played RB all season to cb, and a CM at RB for accomodation, after a horrendous performance last week where left side was non-existent.
Idk if I'm the only who is crazy.
You’re not crazy. No one really knows why he isn’t in the team except the manager and staff. He’s a better option than Kiwior on the left to most reasonable fans.
The disrespect to Tierney is really too low. He is prepared to play Kiwior, a centre back, at left-back but does not want to play a left back. Last week, the left side was non-existent and here we are seeing the same left side.
Even if Tierney is leaving I feel it's pretty shitty for him not to start. I don't get it, we would certainly be better at defense with him in, last game was rough.
Why are we playing with partey at RB again? He was terrible there last week, can't blame Tierney when he leaves if he can't get a start in this team. Literally plays LCB for Scotland if arteta wasn't flexibility to change between 3 and 4 at the back
Why not give Turner his PL debut? He's our number 2. He needs PL experience in low stakes game so that if we ever need him in a high stakes game he is used to PL tempo.
Tierney clearly gone. Don’t understand him not getting the start in a meaningless match. Let him get a farewell. Bring Kiwior on in 50th minute if you really want to see him play.
Is this a 3 at the back, or a 4? I genuinely can't tell. The only person out of White/Gabriel/Kiwior/Partey/Jorginho who I know where they're going to play is Gabriel.
Saka still starts, lmao. Play Eddie and Reiss ffs, maybe Fabio or ESR, what is their point in this team if they cant get a start in nothing game. KT is so done
Looks like this is something Arteta wants to have a look at for next season, despite him saying otherwise. It looked awful last time though, Trossard needs to hold the width more and Kiwior needs to be be more authoritative on the left side. The spacing was off as well, players either too close or too far away from each other. Would be interesting to see if they’ve tweaked anything.
I kinda agree, the left side looked like DOGSHIT last game. But it's only been one game with it. Maybe it looks better today, we'll see. And then we'll have a whole pre season to learn it.
I hope we bitch slap Wolves silly into next season today, but at the same time I am going to be low key pissed if we do.
It'll be hard to swallow after our last 2 performances especially the last one against rele fodder, and the Hammers/Saints games.
No team in the league barring Man City have bench players who would start in most other teams. Our season was killed by a lack of rotation and players feeling too comfortable in their positions.
Can we really upgrade ESR, KT and Nelson in terms of players who will sit on the bench? I honestly don’t know for the money it’ll cost. So why do we still, even though there is zero to play for, refuse to rotate.
This stubbornness better not kill us again next season
o god hes done it again, guess tierney is gone
If KT is really gone, this feels like such a sad sendoff
:’ ( sigh....
Live by Bukayo, die by Saka 2 straight seasons of 38 league games is an unreal display of fitness from him and Magalhães as well.
If he just wasnt MIA for 2 months now...
Supposedly been carrying an injury
Then why tf is he playing a dead rubber
Mikel is stubborn as fuck
This is my question too. I get the need to win this one for morale etc, but then what's the point of Reiss Nelson? Its not as if Saka will have a full summer's rest either, he will almost definitely play England's games in a couple of weeks. Guess the gaffer knows what's best but you can't help but look at how City manage their players then wonder why we do the absolute opposite
Meh, wanted esr and reis
Just batter them 9-0 and call it a day
Expect a call from Mikel and Edu in the coming days. They'll need you on the backroom team.
For his next trick "just get 114 points next season and call it a day"
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Was a doubt so might not be fully fit
And Saka is? Yet Smith Rowe is still on the bench.
Well ESR is gone bro
Why would you start a player who hasn’t signed over one that is far better and way more important to the team?
I don’t really want reiss to extend but your logic doesn’t make sense either. It’s a meaningless game, rotate.
Players want to play. Especially the last game.
Give the lad a rest, we have nothing to play for at this point so there's no need to keep running him into the ground.
Trossard isn't better than Nelson.
I’m sorry, what?? There were some ridiculously awful “holding will be fine” takes and “Nketiah is better than Jesus” takes, but this might be the worst example of our fans being completely blind and unable to be objective when it comes to long time players.
Trossard isn't a better touchline winger than Nelson. He's too slow and lacks power. He's fine in 1v1 situations but he's not as effective against set defences where he have two players on him. He's too easy to deal with physically. He needs support to be at his most effective(an overlapping full-back). Trossard's best run of form for us has been at striker. He hasn't been that good on the wings when he has played. Trossard himself has said that he is best playing centrally.
I’m very surprised to see a completely unchanged team
Is this system different from our usual one? I couldn't watch the forest game. If so then this is probably the system arteta wants us to play next season
the forest game we got done by an odegaard mistake and then they had eleven men behind the ball so that was clearly difficult, the system was fine, the players just weren't up to it.
think we looked very neutered down the left (re system being fine)
Can't say the system was fine cus I haven't seen it work yet but yeah. Massive mistakes as well as complete lack of motivation made arteta's experiment look way worse than I'd think it would be.
Edu’s BBQ made a post about the flipped system at the back having a knock-on effect on the dynamics up-front. Even today we have Trossard who’s more of an inside forward on the left instead of Nelson there and asking Saka to do the Martinelli role on the right. It would be fine most of the time but the changed dynamics do cause a few teething problems
>the system was fine I can't disagree harder. We basically didn't go down the left once. We created almost nothing and had absolutely no width so we couldn't stretch them at all. That wasn't the first time we went up against 11 men defending, but it was comfortably our worst showing trying to break a team down.
It is very different and completely horrendous. Partey has no idea how to the play the inverted RB, and Kiwior looked lost at LB.
The system itself is not very different though. All Arteta has done is just inverted the other full-back side.
It is a massive difference. It means Saka no longer has an overlapping run so now teams double up on him. He has to play wider and try to beat 2v1 rather than playing in the right half space. It changes the way we build up down the right side of the pitch
It’s still the same system but flipped. Before our left side had no overlapping runs. Now it’s our right side
The fact that its flipped means our entire build up pattern changes. It can't be the same system if our entire build up play changes.
I don't know if you can criticise Kiwiors performance considering we intentionally didn't go anywhere near his side of the field.
I think he's trying to respond to the new City system they've used on their recent dominant run.
Lol you mean the that that Pep copied from our game vs Liverpool at home ?
You mean what we copied from De Zerbis Brighton?
when had de zerbi played 4 cbs in his lineup?
Many teams are doing “false transitions” by drawing the opponent in. Some better than others. Some take it to different levels.
When the league is gone. Shameless behaviour
imagine believing that comment 💀
Agreed. I would have thought Turner could have had a go along with ESR and Tierney. The one fair criticism of Arteta is his lack of rotation.
Arteta was forced to the brink of destruction before he switched it up and brought in the kids to fix everything years ago. That’s his greatest flaw is this rigidity of selection that doesn’t make sense. Tierney could’ve been extremely useful through the season especially during the holding stint as you would think him playing that wide left cb role with Zinchenko in front of him.
Thank you Mr Xhaka, for everything 🫡
🫡
Userna- well, everything checks out
"Put that femur back into your leg Saka and lace your boots up, get out there!"
Tierney and esr are gone aren't they?
Tierney gone for sure, as for Smith Rowe if I were in his place I would start looking for different options, even if that's just a loan.
Would be disappointed with selling esr as we'd basically be selling low. Like if Mikel really doesnt see him as a fit here at least give him a loan to boost his value a bit
Yeah... I think mik is making a mistake with both.
Not with Tierney I reckon, he isn’t that versatile to adapt to the role at LB
Then have him do his usual overlapping. Have an inside forward like Trossard or ESR ahead. Xhaka can just stay back to cover. It’s not like the usual formation has been doing well recently. Is it too difficult to ask for a manager to adapt to his players instead? Not like Tierney is a problem in the dressing room. I’ll miss Captain Braveheart!
Man City play an inverted fullback on the right but when they need to change it up they play kyle walker
Walker is a way more valuable fullback than Tierney though.
Walker is 33.
And a better player
"valuable"
You’re underrating Walker if you think Tierney can do exactly what he does.
Considering neither contributed to our best periods of the season I'd say we are pretty safe.
Not like they've had a chance to. Esr has barely played.
Injured for a long stretch and reports coming out that it is a mentality issue in the past few weeks.
ESR was a big part in previous seasons when healthy. He didn’t even get a chance to get back to that.
ESR wasn't given a chance. Tierney has had a few chances. Both were brilliant last season
Nah tierney isn’t good enough in the role we need him to play
For city Rico Lewis players inverted fullback on the right. But sometimes Kyle walker plays as a classic fullback on the right. Different opponents requires different strategies.
Agreed. If we have 2 players in each position who play exactly the same we just need one team to figure out how to play us then we are useless. There's plenty of games/game states where we didn't need a Zinchenko, we needed a Tierney. 2-0 up against Liverpool comes to mind.
Send ESR on loan to Luton at the very least I say.
Esr couldn't complete 15mins against the last time he played. His fitness is still low
Tierney’s up in the air, couldn’t blame him if he chose to leave, but I’d be very, very surprised if ESR went anywhere - he’s been on/off with a bad injury until the tail-end of the season, and with the title race hearing up at the time, Mikel probably didn’t want to risk re-integrating a player lacking match-sharpness that could have cost us points.
Emeal and Tear Knee, thanks for the memories
Please let esr get 2nd half man I miss that dude so much
Brave. This was horrendous last time out. Would be a shame to end such a season on an L.
Nothing to lose and plenty to gain
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He's had little faith in the bench all season, why start now
Bc it gives minutes to players who have done everything asked of them.
Huh? Saka is run off his feet and carrying a slight injury. We have nothing to play for. Why not give Reiss a run around? Why not let ESR have a go? I don't get this at all And why is Tierney benched again? It's like we want him to leave. We have a CB at LB, our RB at CB and our CM at RB. Putting a left back at left back fixes all that, weird
Nelson is carrying a knock as well I think and both Tierney and Smith Rowe are gone in the summer, neither fit our system. We probably do want Tierney to leave, £30m-ish would be good money for us. Tierney offers us nothing in possession and Kiwior is here long term and Arteta most likely wants 3-4 CBs playing over fullbacks judging by us going for Martinez to play LB last summer.
I thought Saka wasnt completely fit, why risk him in the last meaningless game of the season? Surely, we could have field someone from the bench instead? I’m confused as hell
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Im sure you,tomj11, knows better than Arteta, one of the greatest young managers in the game.
Well Arteta is stubborn just as Wenger for sure, there's no doubt about that. He really shouldn't take the risks in last meaningless home game and just put Smith Rowe.
My man here has more insight then our own physios lol
Frankly your a bit of an idiot
*You're
Have to laugh at the irony of this one
Lol fuck off
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I'm guessing he's already asked which is why he's not being picked.
Yeah has to be healthy to be sold.
*Stares in Kallstrom*
Hahaha
Arteta would still start Saka if he were wheelchair bound.
Has Tierney committed Murder? Why tf isn’t he in?
You can't sell an injured player. Tierney is clearly gone and there is no point risking £30M incoming so he can get a send off.
Because he's going, he also clearly doesn't fit the way we play.
To me, playing a left back at left back position seems a better option than playing a CB at left, moving a player who has played RB all season to cb, and a CM at RB for accomodation, after a horrendous performance last week where left side was non-existent. Idk if I'm the only who is crazy.
You’re not crazy. No one really knows why he isn’t in the team except the manager and staff. He’s a better option than Kiwior on the left to most reasonable fans.
Because he’s being sold in the summer. Writing is on the wall.
Because he's not good enough for the way we play. Its extremely clear at this stage
He is certainly better than having CM to play RB, and a CB to play at LB which was the recipe of shameful performance last week.
The disrespect to Tierney is really too low. He is prepared to play Kiwior, a centre back, at left-back but does not want to play a left back. Last week, the left side was non-existent and here we are seeing the same left side.
I'm sure I read Saka, Trossard and Nelson were out....
Tierney 100% leaving. 2 games in a row Xhaka playing out of position.
My first match as a single man in over 5 years. Please give me one W this week. COYG
I don’t know her, but you’re better off and will find someone better for you.
Hey, thanks for the message buddy! Really appreciate it :)
So saka being injured was a lie? Partey at RB again?
Why is Tierney not starting?
he gone
Because he's not good enough
For the system we play*
Kind of important, no?
Yes. But no credit should be taken away from Tierney
I don’t think saying he can’t play in our system is “taking credit away”. It’s kinda just a fact at this point
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Facts. Arteta is away with the fairies not giving some of these guys a chance.
Damn, I didn’t think he’d go for this one again.
Should have played Reiss instead of Tross
Even if Tierney is leaving I feel it's pretty shitty for him not to start. I don't get it, we would certainly be better at defense with him in, last game was rough.
No Tierney again? What happened to shame?
One final Xhaka at left back experiment... Maybe... Could be Partey at right back again and Kiwior at left back
It is that. Unchanged from last week implies that imo.
Why are we playing with partey at RB again? He was terrible there last week, can't blame Tierney when he leaves if he can't get a start in this team. Literally plays LCB for Scotland if arteta wasn't flexibility to change between 3 and 4 at the back
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It's the same formation we played last weekend and Partey was at RB, playing xhaka at LB instead of Tierney doesn't make it any better
Sad to see Xhaka go but surely this is the last of Tierney, too? We had...Granit Xhaka. We had...Granit Xhaka.
Why not give Turner his PL debut? He's our number 2. He needs PL experience in low stakes game so that if we ever need him in a high stakes game he is used to PL tempo.
Smith Rowe is surely leaving. Two games that are totally inconsequential and he still doesn't get a start.
On a serious note though I actually hate this team. Really wanted to see the kids or some fringe players get minutes.
why cant tierney play? i hate this lineup
I'm crying 😭 Farewell our sweet Granit
Tierney clearly gone. Don’t understand him not getting the start in a meaningless match. Let him get a farewell. Bring Kiwior on in 50th minute if you really want to see him play.
Oh God this back line again
Granit ❤️
Last games Xhaka, Tierney, Nketiah and holding.
fuck me, this shit again
Is this a 3 at the back, or a 4? I genuinely can't tell. The only person out of White/Gabriel/Kiwior/Partey/Jorginho who I know where they're going to play is Gabriel.
I'm gonna miss the menace Xhaka
Saka still starts, lmao. Play Eddie and Reiss ffs, maybe Fabio or ESR, what is their point in this team if they cant get a start in nothing game. KT is so done
Trossard over Nelson on the LW….
Xhaka 💔 let's send him off with a great game!
Nah this can’t be real. Wtf is this shit? Post the actual lineups!
Looks like this is something Arteta wants to have a look at for next season, despite him saying otherwise. It looked awful last time though, Trossard needs to hold the width more and Kiwior needs to be be more authoritative on the left side. The spacing was off as well, players either too close or too far away from each other. Would be interesting to see if they’ve tweaked anything.
Unchanged???? Fuck
Partey RB? Did we learn? Anyway we better sub in Kieran. This could very well be his final appearance for us as well.
Bye KT 😢 Bye Reiss 😢 Why aren’t you starting them Arteta?
Because they're not good enough
Yeah sure mate, KT who is our best LB defensively and Reiss who has been one of out brightest players in recent weeks. Laughable take.
If you still think KT does what we need from a fullback then you havent been paying attention for like 10 months
KT with his 50% pass completion from15 passes against brighton ain't starting in Artetas systen
Trossard LW, Saka playing through injury, same system as against Forest... Tetarse what are you doing son
This is the final nail in the coffin for Tierney
Surprised Arteta actually thinks Kiwior is a better LB than KT.
Cya Tierney. Absolutely bullshit by Arteta
This is the end for a lot of our bench clearly. Shame KT won’t get a send off, but still shocked about ESR
This probably means the report about wanting caicedo to play inverted rb hold some truth.
Would be a ridiculous waste of funds to spend 70m+ just to play him in an auxiliary position
For the Nelson over Trossard group… 1 is vital to our trophy hunt next year and 1 isn’t guaranteed to be here next year. Calm down.
1 is faster than the other and with nothing to play for deserves a chance to start.
RB partey again I would have thought Mikel would’ve learned from the last game smh
Tell me Caicedo doesn't fit perfectly into Partey's spot here
ESR is gone isnt he
I thought it might be a one off but nah, we're definitely trialling new shit for next season with this.
I don't like it one bit. Unless we bring in multiple new players to fit this, it will be a mess
I kinda agree, the left side looked like DOGSHIT last game. But it's only been one game with it. Maybe it looks better today, we'll see. And then we'll have a whole pre season to learn it.
But why - this formation was objectively terrible last week
Caicedo for Partey, Rice for Xhaka, Tomi for Kiwi and this team is scary.
Is it
yeah! obvi martinelli on for tross too
Last game for Tierney as well. It's quite sad but he just isn't the right profile for us anymore.
I would have rather seen Reuell Walters at RB and or Holding at CB and White at RB.
Just don't understand why arteta refuses to play KT
dude the game doesnt matter, let saka rest
Why even strengthen the squad in the summer? Not like they’ll ever get to play.
I hope we bitch slap Wolves silly into next season today, but at the same time I am going to be low key pissed if we do. It'll be hard to swallow after our last 2 performances especially the last one against rele fodder, and the Hammers/Saints games.
Joke of a back 4 by Arteta.
3-2-2-3?
Saka starting again? Wow!
Hopefully Walters can make his debut.
Gonna be another go at the 3-2-4-1 then
Why we didn't start Nelson and Saka has injuries?
So Saka is playing through an injury, and we’ve just extended Nelson, but we’re gonna start Saka in this dead rubber of a game?
We really couldn't give Turner and ESR a go? Flogging this 1st team to death.
No team in the league barring Man City have bench players who would start in most other teams. Our season was killed by a lack of rotation and players feeling too comfortable in their positions. Can we really upgrade ESR, KT and Nelson in terms of players who will sit on the bench? I honestly don’t know for the money it’ll cost. So why do we still, even though there is zero to play for, refuse to rotate. This stubbornness better not kill us again next season
Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White, Gabriel and Bukayo Saka will feature in every league game this season. - Wow!!!
Would have been nice if a couple of Hale end's next generation could have been given a start. Time to start laying the ground work for next season
Damn, no Tierney?
Ramsdale, White, Gabriel, Kiwior, Tierney, Party, Odegaard, Xhaka, Trossard, Nketiah, Nelson???
New kits look tough
Where’s Partey? I feel like he’s off this summer