Ben McKevitt says…
Arsenal’s home defeat to Manchester United has left us as the only team left unbeaten at home and we’re all hoping for a huge response to ensure the streak continues as we welcome Burnley to the Stadium of Light.
In my opinion, the setup against West Ham was all wrong in terms of formation and personnel, and I’d be making a few changes to rectify it.
I think an obvious start would be to bring in Lutsharel Geertruida at the base of midfield. He’s proven that he can do it, even when Granit Xhaka was
in the starting eleven, and has more than enough quality on the ball to keep us ticking over at the base of midfield.
The back four in front of Robin Roefs would remain for me — despite Reinildo’s nightmarish runaround from Jarrod Bowen on Saturday. We’ve seen enough from those lads to know they’re not to be dropped after one defeat.
I’d love to see a creative double act of Enzo Le Fée and Habib Diarra, but I’m aware that would mean leaving out Noah Sadiki. So, I’d grudgingly move Le Fée out to the left wing (as he’s still both our best winger in addition to being our best playmaker) whilst having Sadiki and Diarra as the runners ahead of Geertruida in midfield.
I think this approach would give us a lot more control and endeavour while ensuring that we have maximum quality where we need it. For me, Diarra, Sadiki and Le Fée should always be on the pitch if possible, with Geertruida to keep the balance.
To round out the squad, Brian Brobbey would definitely keep his spot up front while I’d have Chemsdine Talbi come into the side on the right. We’ve seen that he’s often more effective on the left but in the absence of many other options, I’d like to have his work rate and ability to keep the ball out there.
This would see us back in our typical 4-3-3 and would hopefully plug the glaring gaps demonstrated against West Ham.
Calum Mills says…
I don’t often question Régis Le Bris, but his decision to play Trai Hume over Lutsharel Geertruida away to West Ham raised many eyebrows, including mine.
It was an experiment that definitely backfired and I have zero doubt that Le Bris will have held his hands up and taken responsibility for the imbalance it caused in the squad.
That said, I’m confident that we’ll see Geertruida start on Monday night against Burnley.
The Clarets have some solid midfielders even without their talisman Josh Cullen. Lutsharel is like a Swiss Army knife who can be deployed in many positions but for me and what I’ve seen this season, he is best suited to the “number six role” — something we desperately missed on Saturday.
The other changes I expect to see are Habib Diarra for Trai Hume and Chemsdine Talbi for Romaine Mundle — and Diarra’s impact was clear to see.
He was always looking to get the ball going forward and as a result of this, we finally scored in our “cursed” black third kit. He’s that good and even in his limited appearances for the Lads he’s seamlessly managed to slot in and create a few good opportunities. He has no problem getting up and down the pitch either, so his ability to cover in defence is equally as important as offering support in attack.
I loved Mundle in the Championship but he’s just too predictable and appears slow against Premier League full backs.
I’ve lost count of the amount of times he cuts inside onto his right foot, and his next touch is a tackle. We saw first hand what can happen when you go with your weaker foot — Jarrod Bowen showcased this with his cross for the opener.
Just before AFCON, Talbi was finding space and creating chances. I much prefer him over Mundle and I’m sure Le Bris will be glad to have him back. Similarly to Diarra, his work rate and output is exceptional, and Burnley have some quick wingers who’ll need to be tracked.
If Diarra and Talbi do start, we’ll most definitely line up as a 4-3-3 and I think we’ll see either of our wingers closer to Brian Brobbey on the counter to receive the ball that our bulldozer of a centre forward will no doubt have held up to perfection.
John Wilson says…
It’s the most obvious analysis to conclude our defeat was due to missing Granit Xhaka. It would be hard to argue against this but I’m going to try to!
We’ve lost this season with Xhaka in the team — 2-0 against Burnley, 2-0 at Old Trafford, 1-0 against Fulham, 3-0 against Man City and 3-0 against Brentford. Nothing wrong with that and it’s totally acceptable, but Xhaka was in those teams and soon as we lose without him, he becomes the sole reason — but I don’t think it was the only reason.
Nearly everyone had an off-day and I think Noah Sadiki summed it up the best when he said that West Ham were “hungrier than us”. That’s the crux of the matter and a few people have mentioned how they had “one of those feelings”. Like most every other team, we’ll have days where we’re not at it and it often happens for us against teams outside the top six or seven, and we don’t give 100% effort.
That’s the standard that’s been set, and that’s the standard we need to show to get results in this league.
Of course we missed Xhaka’s control and command, but we were also guilty of not being at it against the Hammers. I wasn’t disappointed when I saw the team. I was quite positive but it just didn’t work. When was the last time when we’ve seen Trai Hume as slack as he was, Reinildo getting skinned so easily or Romaine Mundle all at sea?
We could play the same formation against Burnley and get a tune, with everyone having a point to prove — although I’m sure changes will be made.
I’d expect Lutsharel Geertruida to be given a place from the start, alongside Enzo Le Fée and Habib Diarra, who looked very lively when he came on. I don’t think Hume will be dropped and given Régis Le Bris’ man management skills, I’d expect Hume to be named as captain in a back four.
Chemsdine Talbi may come in for Mundle, with Eliezer Mayenda and Brian Brobbey completing a 4-3-3 lineup, and whatever the team, I’ll have faith that a response is coming.
If we’d beaten West Ham, this could well have been one of those games where we’d take our foot off the gas; instead, hopefully they’ll get a “Black Cats backlash”.
